One-time Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Powerful Political Career

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of that position in US history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "actual president".

Bush objected to that description and stated the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.

A Aftermath of 9/11

At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.

Cheney said the strikes transformed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Disputed Decisions

He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the correct action to do then. I had faith back then and I hold that view today."

However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memo setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.

Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to tread upon.

Investigation Approaches

However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were whether thin or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."

Public Image

Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen leave his domain? This represents a effective way to function, actually."

Commercial Ties

Controversy over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty