The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered arguably the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas numerous VPs had to settle for minor or figurehead roles, Cheney held substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unresponsive planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, making him become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the correct action to do then. I believed it then and I hold that view presently."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (including "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to act independently when collective action prove impossible," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's face that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were whether thin or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force 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: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his lair? That is a effective way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
