The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential occupants of that office in American history. While many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney held enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and said the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the proper decision to do then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance today."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memo detailing situations in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when collective action prove impossible," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's visage that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were whether weak or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly leave his hole? That is a effective way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the company grew from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
