The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant holders of that office in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were confined to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I believed it back then and I believe it today."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a document outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his hole? It's a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the corporation grew from his $258,394 when he was military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
