The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas many second-in-commands were confined to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I had faith at the time and I believe it now."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memorandum detailing circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were both thin or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to catch the individuals 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 earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen emerge from his domain? That is a effective way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as VP. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
