The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas numerous VPs were confined to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unidentified planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I believed it back then and I hold that view presently."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were whether thin or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume 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 come out of his domain? It's a nice way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the company rose from his previous salary when he was military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
