The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential incumbents of that position in American history. Whereas numerous VPs were limited to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney held huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention 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 educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I believed it then and I believe it today."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a document outlining situations in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were either insubstantial or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? That is a nice way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as VP. Although he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the company rose from his $258,394 during his time as military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
