The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful incumbents of that position in American history. Although many VPs were limited to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, making him become determined on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I had faith then and I maintain that stance today."
However even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were either insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the background that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a nice way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation increased from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
