The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most influential holders of that office in US history. Whereas numerous VPs were confined to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion 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 attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the correct action to do then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance presently."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memo detailing situations in which national priorities might be threatened (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House generally inclined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's face that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were whether thin or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his hole? That is a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the company rose from his $258,394 while defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
