The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. While many second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney held huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I believed it 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 special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memorandum detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes 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 merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? This represents a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
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 substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation grew from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
