The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous VPs were confined to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney held substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and said the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view presently."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memo outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's face that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were whether thin or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen leave his lair? This represents a effective way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
