The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most influential occupants of that office in the nation's history. Although countless second-in-commands were limited to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney held substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, making him become focused on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced back then and I believe it now."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memo outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were whether weak or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? This represents a nice way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as vice-president. Although he had limited background in business but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the company increased from his previous salary during his time as military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
