The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most powerful incumbents of that position in US history. While countless vice-presidents were confined to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the right thing to do back then. I believed it then and I believe it now."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memo outlining circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, 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 floor mural with a image of his parent's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were either weak or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? It's a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as vice-president. Although he had little experience in business but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation increased from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
