The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most powerful holders of that position in US history. While many second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, making him become focused on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance now."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memo setting out scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (including "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's visage that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were whether weak or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his hole? This represents a nice way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the company increased from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
