The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential holders of that office in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were confined to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view today."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memo setting out situations in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary 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 engagement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's face that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were both insubstantial or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? This represents a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation grew from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
