The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most influential holders of that position in US history. Although countless VPs were limited to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney held huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, making him become intent on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I believed it then and I hold that view today."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memorandum outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were whether thin or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? That is a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
