The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Although countless second-in-commands were confined to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney held enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I believed it back then and I believe it now."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a document setting out circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were whether insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly leave his hole? It's a effective way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
