One-time Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Impactful Government Service

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful holders of that position in American history. Although countless VPs were limited to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "true president".

Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.

A Period Following the Attacks

Leading of a group of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.

Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Controversial Decisions

He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I hold that view today."

But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a document setting out situations in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.

Bush also had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.

Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's face that everyone had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were whether weak or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and torture.

Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."

External Perception

Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen leave his lair? That is a advantageous way to work, in fact."

Business Interests

Dispute over his business interests followed him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation rose from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty