Ex- Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Powerful Time in Office

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most powerful occupants of that position in the nation's history. Although many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney held huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "real president".

Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.

A Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified aircraft nearing the US Capitol.

Cheney said the attacks transformed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Disputed Decisions

He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the proper decision to do then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance presently."

However even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and graft."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a document setting out situations in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush also had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.

Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's face that all visitors had to walk over.

Questioning Techniques

But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were whether thin or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen leave his domain? It's a nice way to function, in fact."

Business Interests

Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as VP. Although he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals worth billions.

It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty