The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. While many vice-presidents were limited to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, making him become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I believed it back then and I hold that view now."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memo outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After 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 intention of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's face that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were either insubstantial or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a nice way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as vice-president. Although 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 top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation grew from his $258,394 while military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
