The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant incumbents of that office in American history. Whereas numerous VPs were confined to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, making him become determined on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the correct action to do then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view now."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memo setting out scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were either insubstantial or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? This represents a nice way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in business but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the company grew from his $258,394 while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
