The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential occupants of that office in US history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were limited to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance now."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a document setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (including "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were either weak or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen come out of his domain? It's a nice way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation grew from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
