The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While numerous second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, making him become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the proper decision to do then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view now."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memo outlining scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's face that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were either weak or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his domain? It's a nice way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Even though 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 oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
