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

The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most influential holders of that office in American history. Although countless vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".

Bush disliked that description and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.

A Aftermath of 9/11

At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the government building.

Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Disputed Decisions

He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the correct action to do then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view presently."

However even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memo detailing situations in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.

Bush too had assumed the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's face that everyone had to walk over.

Questioning Techniques

But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were either thin or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."

Public Persona

Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling 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 background that remains unseen leave his hole? That is a nice way to work, in fact."

Business Interests

Debate over his business interests followed him through his period as VP. Even though he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at billions.

It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty