The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view presently."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a document setting out scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (including "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House generally inclined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author'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 shadows that nobody ever sees leave his lair? This represents a nice way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his $258,394 when he was military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
