The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered one of the most influential occupants of that position in American history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were limited to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney held huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a team because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I believed it then and I believe it today."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memorandum setting out situations in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's visage that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were either weak or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his lair? That is a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Although he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
