The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most influential holders of that office in American history. Although countless second-in-commands were limited to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any non-communicating planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I believed it then and I believe it now."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memorandum setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were whether thin or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly leave his lair? This represents a nice way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
