The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Although countless second-in-commands were limited to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised huge power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unidentified planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance presently."
But 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 special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly citing 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; overthrow 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 declared his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's face that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were both thin or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his lair? This represents a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
