The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of that office in US history. While countless VPs were limited to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion 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 attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, causing him to be determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do then. I believed it at the time and I believe it presently."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a document outlining situations in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House somewhat determined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were either weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to apprehend the individuals who killed 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 reveled in labels given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? This represents a nice way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation increased from his $258,394 while defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
