Former Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Influential Time in Office

The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".

Bush objected to that description and claimed the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.

A Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating planes nearing the government building.

Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Controversial Actions

He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I was convinced then and I hold that view now."

Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a document setting out situations in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.

Bush also had arrived in the White House generally inclined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.

Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to walk over.

Investigation Approaches

But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."

Public Image

Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? That is a advantageous way to function, truthfully."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his business interests accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Although he had limited background in business but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth substantial sums.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty