The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were confined to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney held huge power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, making him become determined on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I had faith then and I believe it now."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House 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 first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's visage that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly leave his hole? This represents a effective way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as VP. Although he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
