The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most influential occupants of that position in US history. While many VPs had to settle for marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney held enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it then and I maintain that stance presently."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memo detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (including "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were either weak or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his domain? That is a effective way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests followed him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars while military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
