The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of that office in US history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and said the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it then and I believe it now."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memo detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? It's a nice way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests followed him through his period as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the corporation increased from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty