The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Although many second-in-commands were confined to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney held substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I had faith back then and I believe it presently."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum detailing scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's visage that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were whether thin or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the background that remains unseen come out of his domain? It's a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the company grew from his previous salary during his time as military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
