The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most influential holders of that position in American history. While numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney held huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the correct action to do then. I believed it back then and I believe it today."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum detailing situations in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? This represents a nice way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
