Ex- Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: An Examination on His Impactful Political Career

The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of that position in the nation's history. While many second-in-commands were limited to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "actual president".

Bush objected to that description and stated the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.

The Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unidentified planes nearing the Capitol building.

Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Disputed Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance presently."

Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document detailing situations in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to act independently when collective action prove impossible," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.

Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.

Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's face that each person had to walk over.

Investigation Approaches

However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind striking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to apprehend the individuals who murdered 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 recognition."

External Perception

Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling 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: "Am I the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly leave his lair? That is a advantageous way to function, truthfully."

Business Interests

Dispute over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.

In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at substantial sums.

It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty