Former Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Powerful Time in Office

The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most influential incumbents of that office in the nation's history. While many vice-presidents were limited to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "real president".

Bush disliked that description and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.

The Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a group of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the government building.

Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, making him become focused on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Disputed Actions

He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the correct action to do back then. I believed it then and I believe it today."

But 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 area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."

Broader Context

Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memorandum detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.

Bush additionally had entered the White House generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After 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 stated his plan of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.

Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.

Investigation Approaches

But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were either weak or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and torture.

Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."

Public Image

Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen leave his lair? This represents a advantageous way to operate, in fact."

Business Interests

Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as VP. Although he had little experience in business but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling substantial sums.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm grew from his previous salary during his time as military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty