The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant holders of that office in US history. While numerous second-in-commands were confined to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, making him become focused on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance now."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a document outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's visage that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both thin or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
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 dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? That is a effective way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
