The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered one of the most influential holders of that position in the nation's history. Whereas many VPs were confined to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, making him become determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt 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 voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I believed it back then and I hold that view presently."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a document outlining situations in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were whether insubstantial or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It's a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as VP. While he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the corporation rose from his previous salary while defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
