The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Whereas many second-in-commands had to settle for minor or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. Along 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 strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the correct action to do then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance now."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo outlining situations in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were both weak or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? That is a effective way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests followed him throughout his time as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm rose from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
