One-time Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Influential Government Service

The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although many second-in-commands were confined to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "actual president".

Bush objected to that description and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.

A Aftermath of 9/11

At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the US Capitol.

Cheney said the strikes changed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Disputed Actions

He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I believe it presently."

But even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."

Broader Context

Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush additionally had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's face that each person had to tread upon.

Investigation Approaches

However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were whether weak or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his lair? It's a nice way to function, truthfully."

Commercial Ties

Controversy over his business interests followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at substantial sums.

It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty