The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While countless second-in-commands were limited to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and said the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memo outlining scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to act independently when collective action prove impossible," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's face that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were both thin or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly come out of his domain? This represents a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
