The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most influential occupants of that office in the nation's history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were limited to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a team because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view presently."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a document detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (including "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's face that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both weak or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees leave his lair? It's a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm increased from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
