The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered one of the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in American history. While many VPs were confined to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unidentified planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, making him become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the right thing to do then. I believed it back then and I hold that view now."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a document outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were either weak or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his hole? It's a effective way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
