The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most influential occupants of that position in US history. Although numerous second-in-commands were confined to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it today."
However even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memo outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (including "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House somewhat determined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were both thin or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen leave his hole? That is a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation grew from his $258,394 while military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
