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

The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant occupants of that office in American history. Although countless vice-presidents were confined to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney held enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "real president".

Bush resented that description and stated the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.

The Period Following the Attacks

At the head of a group of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unidentified aircraft approaching the government building.

Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Disputed Decisions

He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I had faith then and I hold that view presently."

Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memo setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, 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 diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to tread upon.

Investigation Approaches

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and torture.

Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."

External Perception

Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly leave his lair? This represents a advantageous way to operate, in fact."

Business Interests

Debate over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in business but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals worth substantial sums.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation increased from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty