The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most influential incumbents of that position in US history. Whereas many vice-presidents had to settle for minor or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. As 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 government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, making him become determined on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I believed it at the time and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a document setting out situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his parent, 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 floor mural with a image of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were both weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? That is a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. While he had little experience in business but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his previous salary while military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
