The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most influential occupants of that position in US history. While numerous second-in-commands were confined to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced then and I hold that view today."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high 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 position. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a document outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were whether weak or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly leave his lair? That is a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as second-in-command. While he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
