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

The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential incumbents of that position in the nation's history. While numerous vice-presidents were confined to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".

Bush objected to that description and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.

The Post-9/11 Era

Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion 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 attending a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes approaching the US Capitol.

Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, making him become intent on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Actions

He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance presently."

However even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memo outlining situations in which American interests might be endangered (including "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.

Bush too had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary 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 suggested defense operations against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's visage that each person had to tread upon.

Investigation Approaches

However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were either weak or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and torture.

Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 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 praise."

External Perception

Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? It's a effective way to operate, in fact."

Business Interests

Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals totaling multiple billions.

It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation increased from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty