The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered one of the most powerful occupants of that position in American history. While numerous second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded huge power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer 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 underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the correct action to do back then. I believed it back then and I believe it today."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memorandum detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (including "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed 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 regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly leave his lair? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests pursued him through his period as second-in-command. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
