The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential incumbents of that office in US history. Whereas countless second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unidentified aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I had faith then and I hold that view presently."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a document detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency generally inclined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were whether weak or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his domain? That is a effective way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the company grew from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
