The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While many VPs had to settle for peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior 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 witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a document setting out situations in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to act independently when collective action prove impossible," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were both weak or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen come out of his hole? That is a nice way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the firm rose from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
