The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. While numerous VPs were limited to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised huge sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced then and I believe it today."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a document outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (including "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency generally inclined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were either weak or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker'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 evil genius in the corner that remains unseen leave his hole? That is a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as VP. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
