The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most influential holders of that office in the nation's history. Although numerous vice-presidents were confined to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unidentified aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, making him become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I believed it then and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (including "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were either insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a effective way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the company grew from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
