The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most significant holders of that position in the nation's history. Although countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I believe it presently."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a document setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's face that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his domain? It's a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him through his period as VP. Although he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the corporation rose from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
