The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant incumbents of that position in US history. Although many second-in-commands were confined to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, making him become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance today."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a document outlining situations in which US concerns might be threatened (including "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were both insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his domain? That is a advantageous way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests followed him through his period as vice-president. Although he had limited background in business but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the company rose from his previous salary during his time as military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
