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

The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most influential occupants of that office in the nation's history. While many VPs had to settle for minor or figurehead positions, Cheney held substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".

Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.

The Period Following the Attacks

Leading of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response 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 educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any non-communicating planes nearing the government building.

Cheney said the strikes transformed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Disputed Policies

He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance presently."

Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and graft."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document outlining situations in which national priorities might be compromised (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's visage that all visitors had to step on.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.

Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."

Public Image

Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen leave his domain? This represents a effective way to operate, truthfully."

Corporate Connections

Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals valued at multiple billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty