The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most significant holders of that office in US history. Although many second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, making him become focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memo outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a effective way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
