The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most influential holders of that position in US history. While numerous VPs were limited to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney held substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance today."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memo setting out scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were both thin or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen leave his domain? It's a effective way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation rose from his $258,394 while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
