The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of that position in American history. While countless VPs had to settle for peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, making him become focused on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced then and I believe it presently."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a document outlining situations in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were whether weak or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to apprehend the bastards 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."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen leave his lair? That is a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had limited background in business but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
