The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant occupants of that office in US history. Although numerous vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith back then and I hold that view presently."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (including "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired 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 stated his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's face that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were whether thin or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his lair? It's a nice way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
