The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential incumbents of that office in the nation's history. While many second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and stated the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I had faith then and I hold that view now."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were whether thin or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, 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 shadows that nobody ever sees leave his hole? This represents a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as vice-president. While he had limited background in business but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the company grew from his $258,394 while military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
