The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most significant holders of that position in US history. Although many VPs were confined to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney held substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a document outlining situations in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were both weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? That is a nice way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
