The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and said the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced then and I hold that view presently."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum detailing situations in which American interests might be compromised (including "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House somewhat determined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were either thin or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly leave his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as VP. While he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation rose from his $258,394 while defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
