The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most significant incumbents of that office in US history. While countless VPs had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unidentified planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I believed it then and I believe it now."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memorandum setting out situations in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's face that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were either insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? That is a effective way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as VP. Although he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the corporation grew from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
