The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential incumbents of that office in American history. Whereas many VPs were limited to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and stated the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I believed it back then and I hold that view presently."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memo setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were both weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his lair? That is a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as VP. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
