The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered one of the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas numerous VPs were limited to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I believe it today."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a document detailing scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency generally inclined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After 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 intention of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were both thin or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his hole? That is a advantageous way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had little experience in business but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation grew from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
