The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant occupants of that office in the nation's history. Although numerous second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any non-communicating planes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a document outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's face that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were both insubstantial or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely 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 Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen leave his hole? It's a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as vice-president. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals valued at billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
