The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as among the most influential occupants of that office in the nation's history. While many second-in-commands were limited to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I believed it back then and I hold that view today."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a document setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork 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 vehement behind invading Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were whether thin or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, 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 remains unseen come out of his domain? It's a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in business but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
