The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant occupants of that office in American history. Although many vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney held huge power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and said the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unresponsive planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, making him become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the correct action to do then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance now."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memo outlining situations in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's face that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the background that remains unseen leave his lair? It's a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him through his period as VP. Although he had limited background in business but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the corporation rose from his previous salary during his time as military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
