The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered one of the most influential incumbents of that position in American history. Although countless vice-presidents were limited to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney held enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a team because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th 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. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, leading him to become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed 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 Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were whether thin or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen leave his domain? It's a effective way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation increased from his previous salary while defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
