The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as among the most influential holders of that position in American history. Whereas numerous VPs had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney held substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, making him become focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I hold that view now."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (including "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's face that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen come out of his hole? This represents a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
