The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most influential holders of that office in the nation's history. While countless VPs were confined to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction 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. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, making him become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memo setting out circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to act independently when collective action prove impossible," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's face that all visitors had to step on.
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were whether thin or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? This represents a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in business but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation rose from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
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