The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most significant incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Although numerous VPs were confined to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction 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. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, making him become focused on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I hold that view now."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memorandum setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for 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 largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's face that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, 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 emerge from his domain? That is a nice way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
