The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered among the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Although countless VPs were confined to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unresponsive planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the correct action to do back then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance today."
But even at the time, 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 post. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a document detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his domain? This represents a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had limited background in business but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the company grew from his $258,394 while military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
