The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant holders of that position in the nation's history. While numerous second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and said the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance today."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memo outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (including "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to act independently when collective action prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were both thin or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? It's a effective way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
