The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as among the most powerful incumbents of that position in American history. Although many VPs were limited to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance now."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a document outlining situations in which national priorities might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen come out of his hole? This represents a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm rose from his previous salary while defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
