The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential incumbents of that office in the nation's history. While many second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command 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. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, making him become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance now."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a document detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's face that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? This represents a nice way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the company rose from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
