The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential holders of that office in American history. Whereas many vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney held huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that included 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. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, making him become intent on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo setting out situations in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were both thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? This represents a effective way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as VP. Although he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
