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

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as among the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. While many vice-presidents were limited to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "real president".

Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.

A Post-9/11 Era

Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive planes nearing the US Capitol.

Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Controversial Actions

He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I had faith then and I hold that view now."

But even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and graft."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush additionally had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.

Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's visage that each person had to walk over.

Questioning Techniques

However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were whether weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and torture.

Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."

Public Persona

Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by opponents 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 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his domain? It's a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."

Commercial Ties

Dispute over his business interests followed him throughout his time as VP. While he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth multiple billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty