The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most significant occupants of that office in US history. Whereas countless VPs were limited to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and said the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for 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 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I believed it back then and I believe it presently."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions 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 not reappointed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a document detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (including "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to 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 declared his objective of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were whether thin or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? That is a advantageous way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the corporation rose from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
