The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do then. I believed it back then and I hold that view today."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were both weak or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? This represents a effective way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as second-in-command. While he had little experience in business but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the company grew from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
