The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Although many second-in-commands were confined to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, making him become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view presently."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memo detailing scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (including "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were both thin or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his hole? This represents a effective way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him through his period as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the firm rose from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
