The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered arguably the most influential occupants of that position in American history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, making him become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I believed it then and I believe it now."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum setting out scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's face that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were both insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in business but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the company rose from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
