The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant holders of that office in US history. Whereas many vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th 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. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, making him become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance presently."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his father had notably declined 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 declared his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were whether thin or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? This represents a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had little experience in business but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals totaling billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the corporation increased from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
