The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered arguably the most influential incumbents of that position in US history. Whereas numerous VPs were confined to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney held enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I had faith then and I hold that view now."
However even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a document detailing situations in which American interests might be threatened (including "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were both weak or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his domain? It's a effective way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests pursued him through his period as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm grew from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
