The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas countless vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, making him become determined on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo outlining scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? This represents a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
