The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as arguably the most influential incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Although many second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and said the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, making him become determined on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I had faith back then and I believe it today."
However even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (including "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were both thin or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power 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: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen come out of his lair? That is a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as VP. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the company rose from his previous salary while military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
