The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered one of the most influential incumbents of that position in the nation's history. While numerous vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, making him become intent on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I believed it then and I believe it now."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memo detailing situations in which US concerns might be compromised (including "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were either insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, 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 operates invisibly leave his domain? This represents a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Although he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company grew from his $258,394 when he was military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
