The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most significant occupants of that office in American history. Whereas many VPs had to settle for marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense 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. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, making him become determined on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I believe it now."
But even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a document detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's face that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were whether insubstantial or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen emerge from his lair? That is a nice way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests followed him through his period as VP. Even though he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
