The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as among the most powerful holders of that office in US history. While countless second-in-commands were confined to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, causing him to be determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance now."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document detailing scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were whether insubstantial or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a effective way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
