The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. Although many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th 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. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, making him become focused on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets 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 informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I believe it today."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memorandum setting out situations in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's face that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly leave his domain? This represents a effective way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
