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

The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although countless VPs were confined to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "true president".

Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.

The Period Following the Attacks

Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the government building.

Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, making him become focused on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Controversial Policies

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I believed it at the time and I believe it today."

But even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and corruption."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a document detailing scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.

Bush also had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to step on.

Questioning Techniques

Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were whether insubstantial or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.

Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by critics 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 duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen emerge from his hole? This represents a advantageous way to function, in fact."

Commercial Ties

Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth multiple billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the company increased from his $258,394 during his time as military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty