The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most influential holders of that office in American history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the right thing to do back then. I believed it then and I hold that view today."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memo detailing situations in which national priorities might be threatened (including "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's countenance that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were either thin or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? That is a nice way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had limited background in business but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the company grew from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
