One-time VP Dick Cheney: An Examination on His Powerful Government Service

The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most influential occupants of that office in American history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were confined to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "actual president".

Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.

A Aftermath of 9/11

At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the US Capitol.

Cheney said the strikes transformed him, making him become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Disputed Policies

He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced then and I hold that view now."

However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and graft."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memo setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.

Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.

Investigation Approaches

But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were whether weak or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."

Public Image

Cheney reveled in labels given to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a nice way to operate, truthfully."

Business Interests

Controversy over his business interests followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements worth billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty