The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as among the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While countless VPs were confined to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, making him become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view now."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (including "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that remains unseen come out of his domain? It's a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
