The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most influential incumbents of that office in American history. Although countless vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and said the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any non-communicating planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the proper decision to do then. I was convinced then and I hold that view today."
But even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen come out of his hole? That is a advantageous way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
