The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant incumbents of that office in US history. Although countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I hold that view today."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document outlining situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were either thin or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen come out of his lair? It's a nice way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the corporation increased from his previous salary while defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
