The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most significant occupants of that office in American history. Although numerous second-in-commands were confined to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney held huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and stated the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted 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 attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any non-communicating planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, making him become determined on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I believe it today."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a document outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's face that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were whether thin or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a advantageous way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as VP. While he had limited background in business but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation grew from his previous salary during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
