The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in American history. While numerous VPs were limited to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a team because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, making him become determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I believe it today."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency generally inclined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted 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 regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were whether thin or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, 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 shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? That is a nice way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as VP. Although he had little experience in business but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the company rose from his previous salary while defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
