The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most significant occupants of that office in the nation's history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were confined to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the right thing to do then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance now."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were either thin or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen leave his hole? That is a nice way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
