Ex- Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Impactful Political Career

The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of that position in American history. While numerous vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "true president".

Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.

A Period Following the Attacks

At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion 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 educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the Capitol building.

Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Controversial Decisions

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it back then and I believe it now."

Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that each person had to step on.

Questioning Techniques

Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind invading Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were either weak or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.

Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."

Public Persona

Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his domain? This represents a effective way to operate, actually."

Business Interests

Debate over his business interests followed him throughout his time as VP. Although he had limited background in business but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals worth billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the company rose from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty