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

The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents had to settle for minor or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".

Bush disliked that description and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.

The Post-9/11 Era

At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the government building.

Cheney stated the strikes changed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Controversial Actions

He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the correct action to do then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view today."

Yet even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."

Broader Context

Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (including "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.

Bush too had entered the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head 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 participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's face that each person had to walk over.

Questioning Techniques

But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both thin or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book 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 corner that remains unseen leave his hole? It's a advantageous way to function, truthfully."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty