Former Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Powerful Political Career

The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most significant incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Although many VPs were confined to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded huge power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "true president".

Bush resented that description and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.

A Post-9/11 Era

Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the Capitol building.

Cheney said the attacks transformed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Debated Actions

He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I had faith then and I hold that view today."

But even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memo outlining situations in which American interests might be endangered (including "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to act independently when collective action prove impossible," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's visage that everyone had to step on.

Interrogation Methods

But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and torture.

Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."

Public Image

Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly leave his lair? That is a nice way to operate, actually."

Business Interests

Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the company increased from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty