The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant occupants of that position in US history. While numerous second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the right thing to do then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memo setting out situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were either insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his hole? It's a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
