The late 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 office in US history. Whereas many second-in-commands had to settle for minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I had faith back then and I hold that view today."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a document outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were whether thin or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen leave his hole? It's a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as VP. Although he had limited background in business but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation rose from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
