The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered one of the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous second-in-commands were confined to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion 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 participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, making him become determined on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance now."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when collective action prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
