One-time Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: An Examination on His Influential Time in Office

The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as among the most powerful occupants of that office in the nation's history. While many VPs were confined to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "true president".

Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.

A Post-9/11 Era

At the head of a faction of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any non-communicating planes approaching the US Capitol.

Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Decisions

He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the right thing to do then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance presently."

But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and graft."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memorandum detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush additionally had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were both weak or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and torture.

Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."

Public Image

Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen leave his lair? It's a nice way to function, actually."

Business Interests

Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth multiple billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm rose from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty