The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant incumbents of that office in American history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were confined to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I believe it presently."
But 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 saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum setting out situations in which US concerns might be compromised (including "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were either weak or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his hole? That is a nice way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had limited background in business but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the company rose from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty