The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential incumbents of that office in US history. Although numerous vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney held substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and said the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary 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 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I had faith at the time and I believe it presently."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions 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 dismissed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a document setting out situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were either weak or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? That is a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as VP. Although he had limited background in business but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
