Former Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Influential Political Career

The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While numerous vice-presidents were confined to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "actual president".

Bush resented that description and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.

A Period Following the Attacks

At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes approaching the Capitol building.

Cheney said the assaults transformed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Debated Decisions

He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced back then and I believe it presently."

Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, incompetence, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memorandum detailing scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.

Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.

Questioning Techniques

But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were either weak or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.

Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."

Public Image

Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker'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 malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? It's a advantageous way to operate, actually."

Corporate Connections

Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth multiple billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty