The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Although countless second-in-commands were confined to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, making him become determined on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I believe it now."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be compromised (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were whether weak or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? This represents a effective way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had limited background in business but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the firm rose from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
