The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Although countless vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, making him become focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I was convinced then and I believe it now."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memo outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's face that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were either weak or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures 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 earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his hole? It's a nice way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
