The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as among the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I believe it presently."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memo detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were both weak or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that remains unseen leave his hole? This represents a nice way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. While 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 leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the firm grew from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
