One-time Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Influential Government Service

The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most influential incumbents of that office in US history. Although many second-in-commands were limited to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "real president".

Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.

A Aftermath of 9/11

In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the US Capitol.

Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, making him become determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Disputed Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it then and I believe it today."

However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memo detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (including "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush also had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After 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 intention of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.

Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's visage that everyone had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were both thin or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his domain? It's a advantageous way to work, truthfully."

Commercial Ties

Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as VP. While he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals worth billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty