The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in US history. While many VPs had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating planes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I had faith back then and I believe it today."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a document outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence 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: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? It's a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had little experience in business but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
