The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most significant holders of that position in US history. While many VPs were limited to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating planes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the right thing to do then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a document setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's countenance that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were whether weak or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels given 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 journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his hole? It's a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as vice-president. While he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
