The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as among the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While many VPs had to settle for peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I hold that view presently."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memo detailing scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were both weak or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to catch 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 merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication 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 remains unseen come out of his domain? This represents a nice way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty