The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most influential holders of that office in American history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were confined to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded huge power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I believe it today."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memorandum outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired 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 declared his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's visage that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were whether thin or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly leave his domain? That is a advantageous way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the company increased from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
