The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most significant incumbents of that office in American history. While countless second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and said the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the proper decision to do then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance presently."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (including "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were either weak or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion 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: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen leave his hole? That is a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure 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 worth in excess of $20m|twenty
