The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential occupants of that position in American history. Although numerous vice-presidents had to settle for minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer 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 educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance presently."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a document outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's visage that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were both insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen come out of his domain? This represents a nice way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
