The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful incumbents of that position in American history. Whereas countless vice-presidents had to settle for minor or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and said the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, making him become focused on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the right thing to do then. I was convinced back then and I believe it presently."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a document outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to act independently when collective action prove impossible," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind striking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to apprehend the perpetrators 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 earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly come out of his domain? That is a effective way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests followed him throughout his time as VP. Although he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
