The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered one of the most influential holders of that office in the nation's history. Whereas countless VPs had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised huge power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance today."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memo outlining situations in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's face that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were either weak or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? That is a nice way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the company rose from his previous salary while military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
