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

The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential holders of that position in US history. While many second-in-commands were confined to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised huge power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "actual president".

Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.

The Period Following the Attacks

Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.

Cheney said the strikes transformed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Controversial Policies

He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the proper decision to do then. I was convinced then and I believe it today."

But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memorandum outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's face that all visitors had to step on.

Investigation Approaches

However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were either insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."

Public Persona

Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, 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 remains unseen leave his domain? It's a nice way to work, actually."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.

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

It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the company grew from his previous salary during his time as military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty