The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of that position in US history. Whereas many second-in-commands were limited to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, making him become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance now."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memo outlining scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were both insubstantial or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen leave his hole? It's a effective way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
