The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered arguably the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas numerous VPs had to settle for marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I believed it back then and I hold that view today."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memo outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind invading Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were both thin or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his lair? This represents a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in business but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
