The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most significant incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Although countless vice-presidents were limited to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unresponsive planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I had faith back then and I believe it presently."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a document detailing situations in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind striking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were whether weak or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly come out of his hole? That is a effective way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts worth billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the firm grew from his previous salary during his time as military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
