The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant occupants of that office in US history. While countless second-in-commands were confined to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney held enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, making him become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I hold that view presently."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a document outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were whether thin or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to apprehend the bastards 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."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication 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 remains unseen come out of his hole? That is a effective way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
