The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful occupants of that position in US history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands had to settle for minor or symbolic roles, Cheney held huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse 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 invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced then and I hold that view presently."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a document detailing situations in which American interests might be compromised (including "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were whether weak or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen leave his lair? This represents a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as VP. While he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements worth billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
