The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Although many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense 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 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I was convinced then and I hold that view today."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a document outlining situations in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly leave his domain? This represents a effective way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as VP. While he had little experience in business but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
