The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered one of the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Although many VPs were limited to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney held huge power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, making him become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I believe it now."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memo setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (including "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed 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 announced his plan of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were whether thin or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly come out of his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars while military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
