The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. While many second-in-commands were confined to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and said the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a team because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memo setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were whether weak or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? This represents a effective way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the firm increased from his previous salary during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
