The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful occupants of that position in US history. Whereas many second-in-commands had to settle for minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney held substantial power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance presently."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memo setting out situations in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired 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 stated his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were either weak or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees leave his domain? This represents a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm increased from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty