The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential incumbents of that position in American history. Although countless VPs were limited to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney held huge power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and said the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction 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 September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, making him become determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith back then and I believe it now."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a document outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency generally inclined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were whether weak or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees leave his lair? This represents a effective way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests pursued him through his period as VP. While he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the firm rose from his $258,394 while military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
