The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential incumbents of that office in US history. Whereas many VPs had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney held substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I had faith back then and I hold that view presently."
However even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management 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 the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum setting out scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (including "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's face that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were both weak or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his lair? This represents a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as VP. Although he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his $258,394 when he was military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
