The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most significant occupants of that office in US history. Although countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance today."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memo setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were either thin or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen come out of his lair? That is a effective way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Although he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation increased from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
