The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most significant incumbents of that office in American history. While numerous second-in-commands were limited to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were either insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his lair? This represents a effective way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
