The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Although numerous VPs were limited to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and said the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unidentified airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the right thing to do then. I believed it then and I believe it now."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a document detailing situations in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief 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 involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were whether thin or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? This represents a effective way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests pursued him through his period as second-in-command. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the firm increased from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
