The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful occupants of that position in the nation's history. Although countless VPs were confined to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I hold that view now."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memo setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were both thin or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly leave his domain? This represents a effective way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm increased from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
