The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. Whereas countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a team because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the right thing to do then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance now."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memo outlining circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both thin or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen come out of his domain? It's a effective way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as VP. While he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
