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

The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. While countless VPs had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".

Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.

The Aftermath of 9/11

In charge of a group of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft approaching the government building.

Cheney said the attacks transformed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Controversial Policies

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do back then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view today."

But even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, incompetence, and corruption."

Broader Context

Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum detailing situations in which US concerns might be threatened (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush also had entered the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.

Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his parent, 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 father's visage that each person had to step on.

Investigation Approaches

But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were either weak or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."

External Perception

Cheney reveled in labels given to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen come out of his lair? It's a effective way to function, actually."

Corporate Connections

Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling substantial sums.

It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the corporation grew from his $258,394 during his time as military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty