The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. While numerous second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, making him become determined on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the proper decision to do then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view now."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum detailing scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (including "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked 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 declared his intention of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey 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 countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were either thin or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his lair? It's a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had limited background in business but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
