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

The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas countless VPs had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney held substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "actual president".

Bush resented this portrayal and said the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.

The Aftermath of 9/11

At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the US Capitol.

Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Actions

He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I believed it at the time and I believe it now."

However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memo detailing situations in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided 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 opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.

Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's countenance that everyone had to step on.

Interrogation Methods

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were either thin or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and torture.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."

External Perception

Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It's a effective way to function, actually."

Business Interests

Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm increased from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty