The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of that position in the nation's history. While many vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded 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 stated the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, making him become focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I believe it today."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memo detailing situations in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were both weak or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? It's a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had limited background in business but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation increased from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
