The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential occupants of that position in American history. While many second-in-commands were confined to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-cons 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 response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any non-communicating planes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the correct action to do back then. I believed it back then and I believe it now."
However during that period, 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, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's visage that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were either thin or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly come out of his domain? That is a nice way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as VP. While he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the company grew from his $258,394 when he was military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
