The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant incumbents of that office in American history. Whereas many VPs had to settle for minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced then and I hold that view now."
But even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memo detailing situations in which national priorities might be compromised (including "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's visage that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were both weak or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? It's a nice way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
