The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential holders of that office in US history. Although countless VPs were confined to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney held substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head 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 answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance presently."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memo detailing situations in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's face that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were both thin or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, 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 corner that remains unseen leave his lair? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
