The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While numerous vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I was convinced then and I believe it now."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a document setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were whether thin or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his hole? It's a nice way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the company grew from his previous salary during his time as military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
