The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in US history. Although numerous VPs were limited to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded huge power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication 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, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I had faith back then and I believe it today."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memo detailing situations in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author'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 remains unseen come out of his lair? It's a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation increased 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
