The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered one of the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Although countless vice-presidents were limited to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded huge power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction 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. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, making him become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I had faith back then and I hold that view presently."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level 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 position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be threatened (including "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's visage that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were either insubstantial or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? That is a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. While 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 chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars while military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
