The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as among the most influential occupants of that office in US history. Although numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view now."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices 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 dismissed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a document setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to capture the perpetrators 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 recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen come out of his hole? This represents a effective way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the company increased from his $258,394 while military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
