The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most powerful incumbents of that position in US history. While many second-in-commands were confined to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney held substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, making him become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the proper decision to do then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance presently."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memo outlining situations in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's countenance that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were either weak or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? It's a effective way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests pursued him through his period as VP. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation rose from his previous salary while military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
