The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While many vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any non-communicating planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view today."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memo outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed 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 diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were whether weak or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen come out of his hole? That is a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as VP. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm grew from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
