The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Although numerous VPs were confined to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and said the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the right thing to do then. I had faith back then and I believe it today."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a document setting out scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's face that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his domain? That is a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
