The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered one of the most powerful holders of that office in American history. While many VPs were limited to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney held huge power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I had faith then and I hold that view presently."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a document detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, 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 lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? This represents a effective way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him through his period as VP. Even though he had limited background in business but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the company grew from his $258,394 while defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
