The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential incumbents of that position in US history. Whereas countless second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated 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 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I had faith then and I hold that view now."
But even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a document setting out situations in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's face that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were whether thin or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, 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 background that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? That is a advantageous way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation increased from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
