The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in American history. While countless vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I believe it presently."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memo setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House somewhat determined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were whether thin or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly leave his domain? That is a nice way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
