The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas numerous VPs had to settle for marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney held substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and stated the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance presently."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's face that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were both weak or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen come out of his domain? That is a effective way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
