The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were limited to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, leading him to become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I believed it then and I hold that view presently."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a document outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (including "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's visage that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were both weak or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed 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 individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? This represents a nice way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
