The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in US history. Although countless vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated 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 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view today."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a document detailing situations in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were whether thin or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker'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 sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his hole? This represents a nice way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the firm increased from his $258,394 while defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
