The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Although countless second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney held huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group 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 answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unresponsive planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I believe it now."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum detailing situations in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey 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 parent's visage that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were both weak or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing 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: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen leave his hole? This represents a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests followed him through his period as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm rose from his $258,394 when he was military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
