The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Although countless VPs had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and stated the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of neo-cons that featured 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. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, making him become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the correct action to do then. I had faith at the time and I believe it presently."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a document outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked 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 diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were either weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? That is a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm increased from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
