The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. While countless vice-presidents were confined to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and said the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive planes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, making him become determined on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memo setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (including "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple 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 announced his intention of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were both thin or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his lair? That is a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as VP. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars while military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
