The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant incumbents of that office in US history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance now."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a document setting out circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House generally inclined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind invading Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his hole? It's a effective way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the corporation grew from his previous salary during his time as military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
