The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered one of the most powerful occupants of that position in the nation's history. Although many second-in-commands were limited to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th 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 headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the correct action to do back then. I believed it at the time and I believe it now."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a document detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? That is a effective way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation grew from his $258,394 during his time as military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
