Ex- Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: An Examination on His Influential Time in Office

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most influential holders of that office in the nation's history. Although many vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".

Bush objected to that description and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.

The Post-9/11 Era

In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the government building.

Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Debated Decisions

He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance today."

Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and corruption."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a document detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.

Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.

Investigation Approaches

However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were both weak or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.

Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."

Public Persona

Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen leave his lair? It's a nice way to work, truthfully."

Commercial Ties

Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as VP. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements worth multiple billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the company increased from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty