The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Although numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, making him become determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it back then and I hold that view now."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memo detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (including "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's face that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were either weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that remains unseen emerge from his domain? It's a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as VP. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at 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 presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
