One-time Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Look Back on His Powerful Political Career

The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most significant holders of that office in the nation's history. Whereas countless second-in-commands had to settle for minor or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "actual president".

Bush resented that description and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.

The Period Following the Attacks

At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated 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 attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.

Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Debated Decisions

He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I had faith then and I believe it now."

Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memorandum setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (including "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to step on.

Investigation Approaches

However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were whether thin or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."

External Perception

Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? That is a effective way to operate, actually."

Commercial Ties

Debate over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as VP. Although he had limited background in business but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling multiple billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars while military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty