The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered one of the most influential occupants of that office in the nation's history. While numerous second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I had faith then and I hold that view presently."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government'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 later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memorandum outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were both weak or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen come out of his domain? This represents a nice way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as VP. Although he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm rose from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
