The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful occupants of that office in the nation's history. Whereas countless second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and said the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, making him become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I was convinced then and I hold that view presently."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memorandum detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were either weak or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing 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: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a nice way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
