The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas many second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion 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 attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unidentified planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view today."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memo detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were either thin or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, 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: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly leave his lair? It's a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation increased from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
