The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as arguably the most influential incumbents of that office in US history. Although numerous vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the right thing to do then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view today."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memorandum setting out situations in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were whether thin or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? That is a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests followed him through his period as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the firm rose from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
