The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. Although numerous VPs had to settle for minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view presently."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (including "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's face that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were both weak or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author'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 evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly leave his hole? That is a advantageous way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as second-in-command. While he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
