The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Although many vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, making him become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I had faith at the time and I believe it now."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memorandum setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (including "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were both weak or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his hole? That is a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation grew from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
