The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered one of the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas many second-in-commands were limited to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the right thing to do then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance today."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memorandum outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were both thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 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 credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen come out of his hole? This represents a nice way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars while military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
