The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Although countless VPs were confined to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed 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 endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view now."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memo detailing situations in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were whether thin or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen leave his domain? It's a effective way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in business but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation rose from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
