The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most influential occupants of that office in the nation's history. While many vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney held substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, making him become focused on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I believed it back then and I hold that view now."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memorandum detailing situations in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in 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 administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's face that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen leave his hole? This represents a effective way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him through his period as VP. Although he had limited background in business but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm rose from his previous salary when he was military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
