Ex- Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Look Back on His Powerful Political Career

The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most significant holders of that position in the nation's history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were limited to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "true president".

Bush resented that description and stated the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.

A Period Following the Attacks

At the head of a faction of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence 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. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes nearing the government building.

Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Decisions

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance now."

However even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memo detailing scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (including "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's face that everyone had to step on.

Investigation Approaches

However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were either insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.

Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."

Public Image

Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly leave his domain? This represents a effective way to work, truthfully."

Commercial Ties

Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth substantial sums.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty