The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered one of the most significant holders of that office in the nation's history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were limited to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, making him become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I believed it back then and I believe it now."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were either thin or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing 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 malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? That is a nice way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the corporation rose from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty