The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful holders of that position in American history. While numerous second-in-commands were confined to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unidentified planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I believed it then and I hold that view now."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memo outlining circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (including "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were either weak or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the background that remains unseen leave his hole? It's a effective way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him through his period as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
