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

The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most significant holders of that office in American history. While many second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney held enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".

Bush disliked that description and claimed the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.

A Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.

Cheney stated the attacks changed him, making him become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Actions

He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the correct action to do then. I was convinced back then and I believe it today."

Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the White House generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's visage that everyone had to tread upon.

Investigation Approaches

However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were either thin or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.

Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? That is a nice way to operate, in fact."

Business Interests

Debate over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had limited background in business but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth multiple billions.

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