The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While countless vice-presidents were confined to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, making him become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance now."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memorandum setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (including "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were both insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? This represents a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
