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

The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful holders of that office in American history. While numerous second-in-commands were limited to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "real president".

Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.

The Post-9/11 Era

At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unidentified planes heading toward the US Capitol.

Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Disputed Actions

He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the right thing to do back then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance now."

Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum outlining situations in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush additionally had arrived in the White House generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.

Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's face that everyone had to step on.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were whether insubstantial or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and torture.

Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."

External Perception

Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen leave his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth substantial sums.

It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty