The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered arguably the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were limited to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney held huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unidentified aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, making him become determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I had faith at the time and I believe it presently."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memo detailing situations in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House generally inclined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were either thin or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion 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 reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his domain? That is a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the company rose from his $258,394 while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
