The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered one of the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas many second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unidentified planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, making him become focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I hold that view today."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a document setting out situations in which US concerns might be compromised (including "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were both weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea 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 quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? This represents a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the company rose from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
