The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered one of the most influential holders of that position in the nation's history. Although countless VPs were limited to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney held huge influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unidentified airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, making him become focused on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I had faith then and I hold that view presently."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memorandum detailing situations in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's face that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his domain? It's a nice way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company rose from his previous salary when he was military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty