The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. While countless second-in-commands were limited to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, making him become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance now."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memo outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were whether insubstantial or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to catch 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 earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist'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 malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a nice way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as VP. While he had limited background in business but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm rose from his previous salary while defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
