The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful incumbents of that position in US history. Although numerous VPs were limited to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a team because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the correct action to do then. I had faith then and I hold that view presently."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, 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 reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were either insubstantial or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his domain? That is a effective way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
