The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most powerful holders of that office in American history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney held huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, making him become determined on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance now."
However even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memo detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were both weak or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen come out of his lair? That is a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation grew from his $258,394 while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
