The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered one of the most influential holders of that office in US history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were confined to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance today."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a document detailing situations in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's visage that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were whether weak or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? It's a effective way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had limited background in business but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
