Former Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Influential Time in Office

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential holders of that position in the nation's history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were confined to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "real president".

Bush resented that description and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a team because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.

A Aftermath of 9/11

In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating planes heading toward the US Capitol.

Cheney stated the attacks changed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Disputed Actions

He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I had faith back then and I hold that view now."

But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memo detailing scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.

Bush additionally had entered the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's visage that everyone had to walk over.

Investigation Approaches

Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were whether insubstantial or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and torture.

Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."

External Perception

Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his hole? That is a nice way to operate, actually."

Business Interests

Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.

It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the company grew from his previous salary while defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty