Former Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Powerful Political Career

The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. While many second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "actual president".

Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.

A Aftermath of 9/11

In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.

Cheney stated the strikes changed him, leading him to become intent on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Policies

He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the correct action to do back then. I had faith at the time and I believe it now."

However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and corruption."

Broader Context

Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a document detailing situations in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.

Bush additionally had assumed the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's countenance that each person had to step on.

Investigation Approaches

However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were whether thin or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."

Public Image

Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his lair? It's a effective way to work, in fact."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals totaling billions.

It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the company rose from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty