The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential incumbents of that position in American history. Whereas countless second-in-commands had to settle for minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and stated the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (including "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House generally inclined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? That is a effective way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests followed him through his period as second-in-command. While he had limited background in business but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm grew from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
