The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most influential incumbents of that position in American history. Whereas countless VPs were limited to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I believed it at the time and I believe it now."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memo outlining situations in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's visage that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were either weak or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book 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 background that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? This represents a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the company rose from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
