The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Although countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney held huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and said the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unidentified airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I believed it then and I believe it today."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were both insubstantial or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly leave his domain? It's a effective way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him through his period as vice-president. While he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the firm rose from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
