The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although countless second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for 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 school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I believed it then and I hold that view now."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a document setting out situations in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his hole? That is a advantageous way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
