One-time Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Impactful Political Career

The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While numerous VPs were confined to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "actual president".

Bush resented that description and said the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.

The Period Following the Attacks

Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.

Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, making him become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Disputed Policies

He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it then and I maintain that stance presently."

But even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.

Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to step on.

Investigation Approaches

Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were whether thin or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and torture.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."

External Perception

Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his lair? It's a advantageous way to function, in fact."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had limited background in business but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements worth substantial sums.

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty