The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of that office in American history. While countless second-in-commands were confined to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unresponsive planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced then and I believe it now."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (including "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were both weak or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to catch the perpetrators who murdered 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 credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his domain? That is a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the company rose from his previous salary while defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
