The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. While numerous VPs had to settle for peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney held substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, making him become determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view today."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memo setting out situations in which national priorities might be compromised (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary 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 regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were both insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, 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 corner that remains unseen come out of his lair? That is a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
