The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most significant holders of that position in American history. Whereas many VPs were limited to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance presently."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a document detailing circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed 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 engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were whether weak or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly come out of his hole? It's a nice way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as VP. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the firm grew from his $258,394 while defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
