The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant occupants of that office in the nation's history. Whereas many second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion 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 session at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, making him become determined on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I believe it now."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memo detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were either weak or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It's a nice way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests followed him during his tenure as VP. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the company rose from his $258,394 while military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty