The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do then. I was convinced then and I hold that view now."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a document outlining situations in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed 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 revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were whether weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish 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 earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? This represents a effective way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as VP. While he had little experience in business but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the company increased from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
