The former 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 US history. Although countless second-in-commands were limited to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the right thing to do then. I was convinced then and I hold that view presently."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing situations in which US concerns might be compromised (including "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to act independently when collective action prove impossible," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both weak or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen leave his domain? It's a nice way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation rose from his previous salary while defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
