The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant occupants of that position in the nation's history. Although many second-in-commands had to settle for minor or figurehead positions, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the correct action to do then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance now."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memorandum outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? This represents a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests followed him through his period as VP. While he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in security, particularly 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 chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
