The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered one of the most influential incumbents of that position in American history. Although many second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, leading him to become intent on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I believed it back then and I believe it now."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memo detailing scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were whether weak or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his hole? It's a effective way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation grew from his $258,394 when he was military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
