Ex- Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Influential Time in Office

The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most influential occupants of that position in US history. Although many VPs were limited to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "true president".

Bush disliked that description and stated the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.

A Period Following the Attacks

Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unidentified planes nearing the Capitol building.

Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Debated Decisions

He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the right thing to do then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance now."

However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a document detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.

Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's face that each person had to tread upon.

Questioning Techniques

But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.

Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."

External Perception

Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? It's a effective way to work, in fact."

Business Interests

Dispute over his business interests accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth substantial sums.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm increased from his $258,394 while defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty