The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of that office in US history. Although numerous VPs were limited to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I believe it presently."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a document setting out situations in which national priorities might be endangered (including "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House generally inclined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, 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 lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's face that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his hole? This represents a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
