The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Although many second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and said the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it then and I believe it now."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were whether thin or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen come out of his domain? It's a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
