The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most influential occupants of that office in the nation's history. Whereas many VPs were confined to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, making him become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I had faith at the time and I believe it presently."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memorandum outlining situations in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's countenance that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen emerge from his hole? This represents a advantageous way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests followed him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company rose from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
