The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most significant incumbents of that position in American history. While numerous VPs had to settle for peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and said the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, making him become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action 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 estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document detailing scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (including "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House somewhat determined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's face that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind striking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were either weak or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? That is a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests followed him during his tenure as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
