The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in US history. While many second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unresponsive planes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, making him become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the correct action to do back then. I believed it then and I hold that view now."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a document setting out circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were either weak or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees leave his lair? This represents a effective way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the corporation rose from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
