The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. While many vice-presidents were confined to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unidentified aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a document detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were either thin or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his hole? This represents a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as VP. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals valued at billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the company grew from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
