The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant occupants of that position in the nation's history. Although numerous second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney held huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unresponsive planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, making him become determined on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I hold that view presently."
However even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memo outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (including "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's visage that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen come out of his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as VP. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
