The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most influential holders of that office in US history. While many vice-presidents were limited to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I had faith then and I believe it now."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memo outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were whether weak or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen come out of his hole? This represents a nice way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
