The late 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 the nation's history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded huge power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view presently."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memo setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's face that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were either weak or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by detractors 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 two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his lair? That is a nice way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
