The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most powerful incumbents of that office in American history. Although numerous VPs had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney held enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, making him become focused on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I had faith then and I believe it presently."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memorandum detailing situations in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were both thin or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? That is a effective way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
