The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant holders of that office in US history. While numerous second-in-commands were confined to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated 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 invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I had faith then and I believe it presently."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memo detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House generally inclined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary 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 involvement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's face that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen come out of his domain? That is a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the firm increased from his previous salary while military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
