The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While countless VPs were confined to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the correct action to do then. I had faith at the time and I believe it now."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memo setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House generally inclined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were both insubstantial or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? It's a nice way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation increased from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty