The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant incumbents of that office in American history. Whereas many VPs were limited to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion 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 elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unresponsive planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, making him become determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the correct action to do then. I believed it then and I believe it now."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memo detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were either insubstantial or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, 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: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? This represents a nice way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm rose from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
