The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most influential occupants of that office in American history. While countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that included military head 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. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I believe it presently."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memo detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's face that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were whether insubstantial or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? It's a effective way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
