Ex- Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Impactful Government Service

The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as among the most influential incumbents of that position in American history. Although countless VPs were limited to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney held substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "true president".

Bush resented such a characterisation and said the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.

The Post-9/11 Era

In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unresponsive planes approaching the government building.

Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, making him become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Controversial Policies

He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the correct action to do back then. I believed it at the time and I believe it presently."

However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After 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 declared his plan of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's countenance that everyone had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were either weak or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and torture.

Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen leave his hole? That is a nice way to function, truthfully."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals worth multiple billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm grew from his $258,394 during his time as military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty