The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most influential holders of that office in American history. While many second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unresponsive planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I believed it at the time and I believe it today."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memo outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's face that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were whether thin or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his lair? It's a effective way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as VP. While he had little experience in business but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the corporation grew from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
