The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as among the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised substantial power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, leading him to become focused on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance presently."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memo outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were both weak or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his hole? It's a nice way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars while military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
