The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most influential incumbents of that position in American history. While many VPs had to settle for marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, making him become focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the correct action to do then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance now."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memo setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (including "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House somewhat determined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were whether weak or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to capture 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 deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? This represents a nice way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
