The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I believed it back then and I hold that view now."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a document setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (including "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were either thin or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling 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: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? That is a nice way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the corporation grew from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
