The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Although countless vice-presidents were confined to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view now."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memo outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (including "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? It's a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the company increased from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
