The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most influential occupants of that position in American history. While many vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I had faith then and I believe it now."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House generally inclined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were either insubstantial or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 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 recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? This represents a effective way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at 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 White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
