The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered arguably the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas many second-in-commands were confined to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it then and I maintain that stance presently."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a document detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were both thin or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing 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: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his hole? This represents a effective way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation rose from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
