The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, making him become focused on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I had faith back then and I believe it now."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a document outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his domain? It's a nice way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests followed him through his period as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm increased from his $258,394 while defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
