The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered one of the most influential holders of that office in American history. While numerous vice-presidents were confined to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney held enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance today."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a document detailing scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's visage that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen leave his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
