The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although many second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unresponsive planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I believed it at the time 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 White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memorandum detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor 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 announced his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were either thin or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly leave his domain? It's a nice way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in business but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm grew from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
