The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant occupants of that office in the nation's history. While countless vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and stated the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, leading him to become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the correct action to do then. I believed it back then and I hold that view now."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a document setting out scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's visage that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were whether thin or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating 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: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? That is a advantageous way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in business but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
