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

The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of that position in American history. While numerous vice-presidents were limited to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney held substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "actual president".

Bush disliked that description and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.

A Period Following the Attacks

Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft approaching the government building.

Cheney said the strikes changed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Controversial Actions

He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I was convinced then and I believe it presently."

But even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and graft."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum setting out situations in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's face that everyone had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were both weak or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.

Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."

Public Persona

Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his lair? It's a advantageous way to function, actually."

Business Interests

Debate over his business interests accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, particularly 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 White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at multiple billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty