The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. While numerous VPs were limited to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney held substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, making him become intent on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I had faith back then and I hold that view now."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memo setting out situations in which national priorities might be endangered (including "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were whether weak or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to apprehend the individuals who killed 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 praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his hole? This represents a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests followed him through his period as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
