The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful incumbents of that position in US history. While countless VPs were confined to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion 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 attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, making him become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance now."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memo outlining situations in which US concerns might be threatened (including "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to act independently when collective action prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's face that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were either thin or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen leave his domain? This represents a nice way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
