Former Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: An Examination on His Impactful Political Career

The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most significant holders of that position in American history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were limited to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney held substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".

Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.

A Post-9/11 Era

In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for 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 taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the government building.

Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Controversial Decisions

He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the right thing to do back then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance presently."

Yet 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 dismissed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum outlining situations in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.

Bush too had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.

Questioning Techniques

However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were both insubstantial or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to apprehend the bastards 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 praise."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? This represents a advantageous way to operate, actually."

Business Interests

Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts worth multiple billions.

It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm grew from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty