Ex- Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Impactful Government Service

The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant holders of that office in the nation's history. While many vice-presidents had to settle for minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".

Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.

The Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.

Cheney said the assaults changed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Disputed Actions

He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I believed it then and I believe it presently."

Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (including "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.

Bush additionally had assumed the presidency generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's visage that everyone had to tread upon.

Investigation Approaches

But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were whether thin or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.

Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."

Public Image

Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume 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 shadows that operates invisibly come out of his hole? That is a advantageous way to function, truthfully."

Commercial Ties

Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals totaling substantial sums.

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty