The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant incumbents of that office in US history. While countless second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney held huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view now."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were whether thin or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly leave his hole? That is a nice way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as VP. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the firm rose from his $258,394 during his time as military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
