The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential incumbents of that position in American history. Although many second-in-commands were limited to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and said the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I believed it at the time and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memo outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency generally inclined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were whether thin or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his lair? This represents a nice way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
