Ex- Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Look Back on His Impactful Political Career

The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. Whereas many vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney held enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".

Bush resented such a characterisation and said the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.

A Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the US Capitol.

Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Debated Actions

He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it then and I believe it now."

However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.

Questioning Techniques

But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were either weak or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."

Public Image

Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force 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: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly come out of his hole? That is a nice way to work, in fact."

Commercial Ties

Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in business but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty