The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas many VPs were limited to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and said the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unidentified planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, making him become determined on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I believed it back then and I hold that view presently."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling 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 witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memo outlining situations in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were either weak or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as VP. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation grew from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
