The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered one of the most influential incumbents of that position in US history. While countless second-in-commands had to settle for minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney held huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance today."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were both thin or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly come out of his lair? This represents a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests followed him through his period as VP. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation grew from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
