The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential holders of that office in American history. While many second-in-commands were confined to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge 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. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any non-communicating planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it now."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a document outlining circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? It's a nice way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the firm increased from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
