The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most influential occupants of that office in American history. While countless vice-presidents were limited to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I hold that view presently."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a document outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's visage that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were either weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen leave his lair? It's a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. 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 petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
