The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most influential holders of that position in the nation's history. Although numerous VPs were confined to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and said the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating planes approaching the government building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired 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 plan of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were either insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen leave his hole? That is a nice way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as second-in-command. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars while military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
