The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Although many second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the correct action to do then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it now."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were whether thin or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his lair? This represents a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
