The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential holders of that office in US history. Although many VPs were confined to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney held huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and said the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, making him become focused on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the right thing to do then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance now."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when collective action prove impossible," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were both thin or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly come out of his domain? That is a nice way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as VP. While he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
