The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of that position in US history. Although many VPs were limited to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded huge power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, leading him to become focused on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance presently."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memo detailing circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (including "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were either weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his lair? It's a advantageous way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as VP. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company rose from his $258,394 when he was military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
