The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant occupants of that office in US history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were limited to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, making him become determined on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance today."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memo detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (including "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his father 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 opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were either weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker'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 sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly leave his hole? That is a effective way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
