The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas many VPs were limited to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I believed it back then and I hold that view now."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a document setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were both insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen emerge from his hole? This represents a effective way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman 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 agreements totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
