The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas countless VPs were limited to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney held enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the connection 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 disputed even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, making him become intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the proper decision to do then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view now."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memorandum outlining situations in which national priorities might be compromised (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's face that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were either weak or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? This represents a effective way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm grew from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
