One-time Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: An Examination on His Powerful Government Service

The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant incumbents of that position in US history. Although numerous second-in-commands were limited to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney held substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "true president".

Bush disliked that description and stated the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.

The Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the government building.

Cheney said the strikes changed him, making him become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Disputed Actions

He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I was convinced back then and I believe it today."

However even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum setting out situations in which American interests might be endangered (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush also had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.

Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."

Public Persona

Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? It's a advantageous way to function, truthfully."

Corporate Connections

Controversy over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.

In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm rose from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty