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

The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful occupants of that office in the nation's history. While countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "actual president".

Bush resented this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.

A Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a group of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes nearing the Capitol building.

Cheney said the assaults transformed him, making him become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Debated Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I was convinced then and I hold that view now."

However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high 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 role. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a document detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.

Bush also had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.

Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's face that all visitors had to tread upon.

Questioning Techniques

But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."

Public Persona

Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, 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 nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? It's a effective way to work, in fact."

Business Interests

Debate over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as VP. While he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company grew from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty