The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful occupants of that position in US history. While countless second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance now."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (including "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were whether insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? This represents a effective way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
