The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Although many second-in-commands were limited to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a team because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the correct action to do then. I had faith at the time and I believe it today."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memorandum setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (including "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's face that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were whether weak or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly leave his lair? It's a effective way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as vice-president. Although he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the company rose from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
