The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney held huge sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, making him become intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I hold that view presently."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memo setting out situations in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were whether weak or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker'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 sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen leave his domain? That is a advantageous way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation rose from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
