The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. While countless vice-presidents had to settle for minor or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unidentified planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view now."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memo outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (including "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were either weak or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his domain? It's a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Although he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm rose from his $258,394 while military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
