The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous VPs were confined to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney held enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced then and I believe it presently."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memo setting out situations in which US concerns might be endangered (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were whether thin or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen leave his lair? It's a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation rose from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
