The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered one of the most powerful incumbents of that office in US history. Although many VPs had to settle for minor or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view today."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memo detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to 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 intention of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were either weak or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 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 recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his lair? It's a effective way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
