The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential occupants of that position in American history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were confined to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney held enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view now."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution 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 saw, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memo outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's face that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were both weak or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? This represents a advantageous way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as vice-president. While he had little experience in business but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
