The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I had faith back then and I hold that view presently."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to catch the individuals who murdered 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 credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen leave his lair? That is a nice way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in business but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
