The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were limited to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, making him become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I believed it then and I believe it presently."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a document outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's visage that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were both weak or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author'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 background that operates invisibly come out of his domain? It's a effective way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the company increased from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
