The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant occupants of that position in the nation's history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer 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 underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance now."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication 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 corner that operates invisibly come out of his domain? This represents a effective way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests pursued him through his period as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
