The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most significant occupants of that position in American history. While numerous vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I believed it then and I believe it now."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier 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 retained from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document outlining scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were either weak or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? This represents a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had little experience in business but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation increased from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
