The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. While countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unidentified aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view now."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were whether weak or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author'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 sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen leave his lair? It's a nice way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. While he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
