The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant holders of that position in American history. Although countless VPs were limited to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the right thing to do back then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view today."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a document detailing situations in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's visage that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were either thin or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen come out of his lair? It's a effective way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the company increased from his $258,394 when he was military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
