The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Whereas numerous VPs were confined to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to 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 at that time. I was convinced then and I hold that view now."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a document setting out situations in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to act independently when collective action prove impossible," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were whether thin or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen come out of his domain? It's a nice way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm grew from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
