The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful incumbents of that office in US history. While many VPs had to settle for minor or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent 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 respectful, invariably calling him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive planes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, leading him to become intent on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance presently."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a document detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his lair? That is a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests followed him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
