The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant holders of that position in American history. Whereas countless vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance presently."
However even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memorandum setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House generally inclined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's face that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were either thin or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating 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: "Am I the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly leave his lair? It's a nice way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation rose from his previous salary when he was military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
