The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most influential holders of that position in US history. While numerous second-in-commands were confined to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, making him become focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I had faith then and I believe it now."
However even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memo outlining circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency generally inclined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were either weak or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation increased from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
