The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most powerful incumbents of that position in American history. Although countless vice-presidents had to settle for minor or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, making him become intent on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I believed it then and I hold that view today."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memo detailing circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly come out of his lair? That is a nice way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as VP. Although he had limited background in business but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the company rose from his $258,394 during his time as military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
