The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered one of the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the correct action to do then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance today."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's visage that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were whether thin or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his lair? It's a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation rose from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
