The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most powerful incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I believed it back then and I hold that view presently."
However even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memo outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to act independently when collective action prove impossible," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were both thin or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a nice way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
