The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant occupants of that position in US history. Whereas countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I believed it then and I hold that view today."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a document outlining situations in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were both thin or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? This represents a advantageous way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had limited background in business but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the company grew from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
