The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and stated the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I hold that view today."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a document outlining situations in which national priorities might be endangered (including "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were whether thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen leave his lair? That is a nice way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the company increased from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
