Former Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Influential Political Career

The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential incumbents of that office in US history. While numerous second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "actual president".

Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.

A Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a group of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the Capitol building.

Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, making him become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Debated Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it presently."

However during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memo setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.

Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.

Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's visage that everyone had to walk over.

Questioning Techniques

But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were whether weak or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.

Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."

External Perception

Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? This represents a advantageous way to work, truthfully."

Commercial Ties

Debate over his business interests pursued him through his period as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at substantial sums.

It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty