The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. While many VPs had to settle for peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney held huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unresponsive planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, making him become determined on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance today."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memo setting out situations in which American interests might be compromised (including "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's visage that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? That is a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm increased from his previous salary during his time as military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
