The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered one of the most powerful holders of that office in US history. Although many vice-presidents were confined to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney held huge influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, making him become determined on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I believed it then and I hold that view today."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum outlining situations in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were either weak or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion 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 background that operates invisibly come out of his lair? This represents a effective way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in defence, particularly 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 White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the company increased from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
