The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant holders of that office in American history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
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 response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, making him become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance now."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (including "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House generally inclined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind striking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were both weak or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that remains unseen come out of his lair? This represents a effective way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as VP. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation grew from his previous salary when he was military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
