The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most significant occupants of that office in American history. Whereas many VPs were confined to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, like 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, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the correct action to do then. I believed it back then and I hold that view now."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a document outlining circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were both weak or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept 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 reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? That is a effective way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as vice-president. Although he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation rose from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
