The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, making him become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I hold that view presently."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memorandum outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were whether thin or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his domain? That is a effective way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
