The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While many VPs were limited to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised huge power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the proper decision to do then. I believed it then and I believe it presently."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House vaguely intent on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the finance chief 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 participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen emerge from his lair? That is a nice way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had little experience in commerce 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 chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the company increased from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
