The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas numerous VPs had to settle for peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised huge sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unidentified airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I believe it today."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memo setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his domain? That is a effective way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm increased from his previous salary during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
