The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most significant incumbents of that position in American history. Although numerous vice-presidents were limited to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any non-communicating planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the right thing to do then. I had faith then and I believe it presently."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document detailing situations in which American interests might be threatened (including "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were either weak or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly come out of his domain? That is a effective way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm rose from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
