The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most influential occupants of that position in American history. Although numerous second-in-commands were limited to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unresponsive planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets 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 military action, which was based on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I believe it now."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memo outlining scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were whether thin or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen come out of his lair? That is a nice way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation grew from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
