The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most significant occupants of that office in the nation's history. Although numerous second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence 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. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, making him become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the proper decision to do then. I believed it back then and I believe it presently."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document detailing circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were whether weak or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force 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 malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his lair? That is a nice way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in business but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the firm rose from his $258,394 while military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
