The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most influential holders of that office in US history. Whereas many VPs were limited to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unresponsive planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the correct action to do back then. I believed it back then and I hold that view presently."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a document detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were both weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? This represents a effective way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at 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. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the company increased from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
