The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most influential occupants of that office in American history. Although countless second-in-commands had to settle for minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney held huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, making him become determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I hold that view presently."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memo setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (including "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were whether thin or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? This represents a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests followed him through his period as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm increased from his $258,394 while defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
