The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant holders of that office in American history. Although many VPs had to settle for minor or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and said the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I had faith at the time and I believe it today."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memo setting out situations in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were whether weak or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? This represents a advantageous way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation rose from his previous salary while defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
