The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful holders of that position in US history. While many VPs were limited to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance today."
However even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memorandum setting out 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 prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling 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: "Am I the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? That is a nice way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had limited background in business but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation increased from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
