The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant occupants of that position in the nation's history. While many VPs had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney held substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum setting out situations in which American interests might be compromised (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's face that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were whether weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that remains unseen leave his lair? It's a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as VP. While he had limited background in business but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm grew from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
