The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most significant incumbents of that position in US history. Whereas many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and said the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize 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.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I had faith then and I believe it today."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memo setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? This represents a effective way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the firm rose from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
