The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Although numerous VPs were limited to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and said the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary 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. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it presently."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memo outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were both insubstantial or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication 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 hole? This represents a advantageous way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests followed him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation rose from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
