The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered one of the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. While many second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the proper decision to do then. I believed it back then and I hold that view today."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memo detailing circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his parent, 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 floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his hole? That is a nice way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests followed him throughout his time as VP. While he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation grew from his previous salary while defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
