The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered one of the most powerful incumbents of that office in American history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view presently."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were both weak or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to catch the perpetrators 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 recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? This represents a effective way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in business but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
