The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do back then. I had faith then and I believe it now."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were whether insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees leave his lair? It's a nice way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as VP. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation grew from his previous salary when he was military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
