The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most influential incumbents of that position in American history. Although many VPs were confined to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney held substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I believe it today."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum outlining situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's face that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were both weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his domain? This represents a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation rose from his previous salary while defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
