The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most influential holders of that office in American history. While countless second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded huge sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unidentified planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I had faith at the time and I believe it today."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memorandum setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were either thin or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen leave his lair? It's a nice way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
