The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered one of the most powerful occupants of that office in US history. Although numerous vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unresponsive planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, making him become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view now."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a document detailing situations in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were either insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his lair? This represents a effective way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as VP. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation increased from his $258,394 when he was military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
