The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in American history. While many VPs had to settle for marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and said the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view today."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple 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 stated his intention of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were either thin or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling 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 operates invisibly come out of his hole? This represents a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests followed him throughout his time as VP. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
