The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most significant incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Although numerous vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney held enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unresponsive planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or 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 misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I believed it back then and I believe it presently."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memo outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed 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 Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were whether thin or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his hole? That is a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as VP. While he had little experience in business but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the firm grew from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
