The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant occupants of that position in American history. Whereas numerous VPs had to settle for minor or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unresponsive planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I believed it back then and I believe it today."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memo outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's face that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both weak or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly leave his hole? That is a nice way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation grew from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
