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

The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in US history. While countless VPs were limited to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney held huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "real president".

Bush disliked that description and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.

The Aftermath of 9/11

In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unidentified aircraft approaching the US Capitol.

Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Disputed Decisions

He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it back then and I believe it today."

But even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memo setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's countenance that each person had to step on.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were either thin or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.

Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."

Public Image

Cheney reveled in labels given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his hole? This represents a advantageous way to work, in fact."

Business Interests

Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as vice-president. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling billions.

It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the company increased from his previous salary during his time as military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty