The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. Although many VPs were confined to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney held huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a team because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unidentified planes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, making him become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a document setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were either thin or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his domain? This represents a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in business but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company increased from his previous salary while military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
