The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered one of the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Although many second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney held substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance today."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a document setting out scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to act independently when collective action prove impossible," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's face that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were either thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? This represents a effective way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
