The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most influential occupants of that office in American history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were limited to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, making him become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it then and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a document outlining circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? This represents a nice way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
