The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential holders of that office in American history. While numerous vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I was convinced then and I believe it today."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memo outlining situations in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were whether thin or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen come out of his domain? That is a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in business but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the firm rose from his previous salary while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
