The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most influential occupants of that office in American history. While countless second-in-commands had to settle for minor or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded huge power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unresponsive planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I had faith then and I believe it presently."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to act independently when collective action prove impossible," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were whether weak or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly leave his domain? That is a nice way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the firm rose from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
