The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant incumbents of that office in American history. Whereas countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document setting out situations in which national priorities might be endangered (including "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were either thin or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his domain? That is a nice way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company grew from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
