The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in US history. While many VPs had to settle for minor or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the right thing to do then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view today."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a document detailing situations in which American interests might be compromised (including "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were either thin or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force 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: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? It's a effective way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests pursued him through his period as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and top 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 substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company increased from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
