The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most significant incumbents of that office in US history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and stated the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I believed it then and I believe it today."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memorandum outlining circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were both weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his domain? That is a advantageous way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm grew from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
