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

The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful holders of that position in American history. While countless second-in-commands were limited to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "real president".

Bush disliked this portrayal and said the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.

A Post-9/11 Era

At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unidentified aircraft approaching the US Capitol.

Cheney said the attacks changed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Disputed Actions

He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the correct action to do back then. I had faith then and I believe it now."

But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, deception, unfitness, and corruption."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memo detailing circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (including "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.

Bush also had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.

Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."

External Perception

Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? It's a advantageous way to work, truthfully."

Business Interests

Debate over his business interests followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at multiple billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty