The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous vice-presidents had to settle for minor or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith then and I maintain that stance now."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were either weak or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling 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: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen leave his lair? This represents a nice way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Although he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
