The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most powerful holders of that position in American history. Whereas many second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney held substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unidentified planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, making him become intent on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I had faith then and I hold that view now."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memo setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's countenance that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen leave his domain? It's a nice way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests followed him through his period as vice-president. While he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the company increased from his previous salary when he was military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
