The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas many VPs were limited to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney held huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unidentified airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the correct action to do then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view now."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memo detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were whether weak or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly leave his domain? This represents a effective way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
