The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. While countless vice-presidents were limited to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unidentified planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do then. I had faith at the time and I believe it presently."
However even at the time, there were opposing views 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 not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a document detailing circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's visage that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were whether thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? That is a effective way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as VP. Even though he had limited background in business but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
