The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as among the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Although numerous VPs were confined to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and said the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unidentified planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view now."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a document detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were either insubstantial or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his domain? That is a nice way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as VP. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
