The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered one of the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Although numerous vice-presidents were confined to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and said the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, making him become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I had faith then and I hold that view now."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memo outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his predecessor 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 opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's face that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were whether weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen leave his hole? This represents a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
