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

The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas many second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney held substantial power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "real president".

Bush resented such a characterisation and said the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.

A Post-9/11 Era

Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unidentified planes approaching the government building.

Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Controversial Policies

He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the proper decision to do then. I had faith back then and I hold that view today."

However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."

Broader Context

Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memo detailing scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.

Bush too had entered the White House generally inclined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's face that everyone had to walk over.

Investigation Approaches

But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and torture.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."

External Perception

Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly leave his domain? This represents a nice way to work, actually."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had little experience in business but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

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

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation rose from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty