The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were confined to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, making him become intent on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the right thing to do back then. I had faith then and I believe it now."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (including "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were both thin or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen come out of his hole? That is a nice way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests pursued him through his period as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation increased from his previous salary while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
