Former Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: An Examination on His Influential Political Career

The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Although countless VPs had to settle for marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney held huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "actual president".

Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.

A Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.

Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, making him become focused on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Disputed Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the right thing to do then. I had faith at the time and I believe it today."

But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management 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, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, incompetence, and corruption."

Broader Context

Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a document outlining situations in which US concerns might be endangered (including "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.

Bush additionally had entered the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were whether weak or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.

Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to catch the bastards who took the lives of 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 credit."

Public Image

Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume 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 corner that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? That is a nice way to operate, in fact."

Business Interests

Controversy over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as VP. While he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling multiple billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the firm grew from his $258,394 while military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty