The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were limited to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and stated the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, making him become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view presently."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a document outlining circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (including "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's face that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were either insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, 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 come out of his domain? That is a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as vice-president. While he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
