The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in US history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were confined to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney held huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified planes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I believed it back then and I hold that view now."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum detailing situations in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly come out of his lair? It's a advantageous way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests followed him throughout his time as VP. While he had little experience in business but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm rose from his $258,394 while military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
