The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most significant holders of that position in American history. Although many vice-presidents were limited to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions 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 policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unidentified planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, making him become intent on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I had faith back then and I hold that view today."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a document detailing situations in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were either insubstantial or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly come out of his domain? This represents a nice way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests pursued him through his period as VP. While he had limited background in business but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the company grew from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
