One-time Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Influential Government Service

The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful incumbents of that office in American history. While numerous VPs were confined to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".

Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.

The Post-9/11 Era

At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part 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 unresponsive airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.

Cheney said the attacks changed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I believed it back then and I believe it today."

However even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memorandum outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush also had entered the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary 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 engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.

Questioning Techniques

But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were whether thin or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to apprehend 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 deserve a lot of praise."

Public Image

Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly leave his hole? That is a effective way to function, actually."

Corporate Connections

Debate over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling substantial sums.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the company increased from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty