The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant occupants of that position in the nation's history. Whereas numerous VPs had to settle for minor or symbolic functions, Cheney held enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief 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. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, leading him to become intent on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do then. I was convinced back then and I believe it now."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level 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 saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memo detailing circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were whether weak or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his hole? That is a effective way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests pursued him through his period as second-in-command. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation increased from his previous salary when he was military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
