The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most influential incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Although numerous VPs were confined to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I believed it then and I believe it today."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memorandum setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were either weak or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence 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: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? It's a nice way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had limited background in business but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the company rose from his previous salary during his time as military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
