One-time Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: An Examination on His Powerful Government Service
The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Although countless second-in-commands were confined to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney held substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I believed it then and I hold that view presently."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution 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 observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a document setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (including "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his parent, 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 image of his father's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were whether weak or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, 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 corner that operates invisibly leave his hole? This represents a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as VP. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm rose from his $258,394 while defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
