The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as arguably the most influential incumbents of that office in American history. While countless vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unidentified aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I believed it then and I hold that view today."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a document setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were whether thin or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
