The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered one of the most influential occupants of that position in the nation's history. While numerous vice-presidents were limited to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, making him become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance today."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a document setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were both insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his domain? That is a effective way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the firm rose from his $258,394 during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
