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

The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful incumbents of that position in US history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney held huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "actual president".

Bush disliked this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.

The Post-9/11 Era

Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.

Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Disputed Decisions

He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I was convinced then and I hold that view presently."

But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Broader Context

Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a document outlining situations in which national priorities might be compromised (including "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."

External Perception

Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen leave his lair? That is a nice way to work, in fact."

Business Interests

Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in business but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling multiple billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation increased from his previous salary during his time as military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty