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

The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most powerful holders of that office in the nation's history. While numerous vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".

Bush resented such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.

A Aftermath of 9/11

At the head of a faction of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the government building.

Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Policies

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith then and I maintain that stance presently."

But even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a document setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.

Bush also had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that each person had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.

Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."

Public Image

Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen come out of his domain? This represents a nice way to function, truthfully."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in business but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth substantial sums.

It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the firm increased from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty