The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. While countless VPs were confined to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance today."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memo setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both weak or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force 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 corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It's a effective way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm rose from his previous salary while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
