The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of that position in American history. Although numerous VPs were confined to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unidentified planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the correct action to do then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it presently."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum outlining circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (including "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House somewhat determined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's visage that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were both thin or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars while military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
