The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential incumbents of that office in the nation's history. While numerous VPs were limited to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney held substantial power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unresponsive planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance presently."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were whether thin or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure 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 critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a effective way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm increased from his $258,394 while defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
