The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Although many second-in-commands were confined to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes 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 underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unidentified planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, making him become focused on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced then and I hold that view presently."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's face that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees leave his domain? This represents a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
