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

The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most powerful occupants of that position in the nation's history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "actual president".

Bush objected to that description and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.

A Period Following the Attacks

At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.

Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, making him become determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture 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 showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up 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 correct course of action. "It was the right thing to do then. I was convinced then and I hold that view presently."

Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush also had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.

Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's face that each person had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were either thin or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and torture.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? It's a nice way to work, truthfully."

Commercial Ties

Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as VP. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at multiple billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty