The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. While countless VPs had to settle for marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and said the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unidentified airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, making him become focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I had faith then and I believe it now."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (including "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's face that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were whether weak or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? It's a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests followed him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair 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 given US deals valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm rose from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
