The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most influential occupants of that office in the nation's history. Whereas numerous VPs were limited to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, leading him to become focused on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I believe it now."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's face that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were either weak or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? That is a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation rose from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
