The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas many second-in-commands had to settle for minor or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating planes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I hold that view presently."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a document outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were either thin or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? This represents a effective way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests followed him during his tenure as VP. While he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation grew from his previous salary when he was military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
