The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most influential incumbents of that position in US history. While countless second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the correct action to do then. I believed it then and I believe it presently."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a document outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were both thin or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, 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 corner that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? This represents a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the company increased from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
