The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Whereas many second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for 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 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unidentified airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, making him become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I was convinced then and I believe it today."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a document outlining situations in which national priorities might be compromised (including "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House generally inclined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were whether weak or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly leave his domain? This represents a effective way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Although he had limited background in business but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
