The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While many second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I had faith then and I believe it now."
However even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memo setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly come out of his hole? It's a effective way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had limited background in business but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income 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 package totaling more than $20m|twenty
