The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential holders of that position in American history. While numerous VPs were confined to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney held huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance presently."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memo setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were whether weak or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen leave his lair? This represents a effective way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as VP. While he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
