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

The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas many vice-presidents were confined to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "real president".

Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.

A Aftermath of 9/11

At the head of a group of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating planes heading toward the US Capitol.

Cheney said the attacks transformed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Controversial Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I believe it presently."

However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a document outlining situations in which US concerns might be compromised (including "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.

Bush also had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's face that all visitors had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were either weak or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."

Public Image

Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? This represents a advantageous way to operate, actually."

Corporate Connections

Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had little experience in business but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at multiple billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty