The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential incumbents of that office in American history. Whereas countless second-in-commands had to settle for minor or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and said the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the correct action to do then. I believed it then and I believe it today."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were both thin or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his domain? That is a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as VP. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the company grew from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
