The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most powerful occupants of that position in US history. Although many VPs were confined to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion 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 taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unidentified airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memo detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's visage that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were whether weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly come out of his hole? This represents a effective way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had little experience in business but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the company grew from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
