The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were confined to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and said the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unidentified planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it back then and I believe it presently."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memo setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House generally inclined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen leave his domain? That is a nice way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
