The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant holders of that position in US history. Although countless second-in-commands were confined to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance today."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memorandum detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's face that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were whether weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 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 recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? It's a nice way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts 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 chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation rose from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
