The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas countless VPs were limited to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and said the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I believe it presently."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memorandum detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were whether insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? It's a nice way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the corporation rose from his $258,394 when he was military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
