The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unidentified airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, making him become determined on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced then and I believe it today."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices 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 role. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memo outlining situations in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were whether thin or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? It's a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him through his period as VP. Even though he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
