The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded huge power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the correct action to do then. I had faith back then and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memorandum setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were both insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen come out of his hole? This represents a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
