The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered one of the most significant holders of that position in American history. Although countless VPs had to settle for peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney held substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it presently."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo detailing situations in which national priorities might be threatened (including "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed 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 announced his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's visage that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both insubstantial or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist'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 evil genius in the background that operates invisibly leave his hole? That is a effective way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had little experience 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 oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
