The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. While many VPs had to settle for peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and said the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unidentified aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, making him become determined on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I had faith back then and I hold that view now."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memorandum outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's face that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen emerge from his domain? This represents a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the company grew from his previous salary during his time as military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
