The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most significant incumbents of that office in US history. Although many second-in-commands were limited to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney held huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for 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 participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view today."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a document outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency generally inclined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's face that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were either insubstantial or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen leave his domain? It's a effective way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation grew from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
