The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered arguably the most significant holders of that office in the nation's history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney held huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, making him become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view today."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a document outlining situations in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were whether weak or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his lair? It's a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests pursued him through his period as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the firm grew from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
