The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered one of the most influential incumbents of that position in American history. Whereas many VPs had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the correct action to do then. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance now."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memo setting out scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (including "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's face that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his lair? It's a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests followed him through his period as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the corporation increased from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
