The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant incumbents of that position in American history. While many VPs were limited to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary 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 participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I had faith then and I believe it today."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document detailing circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's face that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were whether thin or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? This represents a effective way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
