The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of that position in US history. While many second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney held huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, making him become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance today."
However even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memo detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (including "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were both weak or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his lair? This represents a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
