The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. While many VPs were confined to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney held enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I hold that view presently."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo detailing situations in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly leave his domain? This represents a nice way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
