Ex- Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Powerful Political Career

The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most significant holders of that office in US history. While many second-in-commands were limited to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "actual president".

Bush resented this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.

The Aftermath of 9/11

At the head of a faction of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the government building.

Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Controversial Actions

He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance presently."

But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Broader Context

Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memorandum detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to act independently when collective action prove impossible," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.

Bush too had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.

Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's countenance that everyone had to step on.

Investigation Approaches

But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.

Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."

Public Image

Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? That is a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."

Corporate Connections

Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty