The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential occupants of that position in US history. While many second-in-commands were limited to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney held substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I was convinced then and I believe it today."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memo outlining situations in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing 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 largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were either thin or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees leave his domain? It's a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests pursued him through his period as second-in-command. While he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the firm grew from his previous salary while defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
