The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant incumbents of that position in American history. While countless second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unresponsive planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the proper decision to do then. I believed it back then and I believe it presently."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a document setting out circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (including "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were both weak or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly come out of his hole? That is a effective way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
