The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most significant occupants of that position in US history. While numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unidentified planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced then and I believe it now."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memorandum setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (including "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's face that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both insubstantial or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes 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 deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his domain? That is a nice way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the company increased from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
