The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Although many second-in-commands 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 called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, making him become determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the correct action to do then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view today."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a document outlining circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (including "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were either weak or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his hole? That is a effective way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation rose from his previous salary while military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
