The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant occupants of that office in American history. Although numerous second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, leading him to become intent on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I had faith then and I believe it today."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a document detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (including "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's face that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were either weak or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen come out of his lair? This represents a effective way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had limited background in business but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
