The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in American history. While many second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, making him become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort 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 Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I hold that view now."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum setting out scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's face that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were both thin or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a effective way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
