The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant holders of that office in US history. Although many second-in-commands had to settle for minor or symbolic roles, Cheney held substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced then and I hold that view today."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memo outlining situations in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were both weak or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? That is a advantageous way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as VP. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
