The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most powerful holders of that position in US history. Although countless VPs were limited to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I believe it now."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memo outlining circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were either thin or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his domain? This represents a nice way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
