The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most influential occupants of that office in American history. Although many second-in-commands were confined to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the right thing to do then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memorandum setting out situations in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked 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 announced his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's face that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? That is a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
