Former Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Influential Political Career

The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most significant occupants of that office in US history. Whereas numerous VPs were confined to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".

Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.

The Aftermath of 9/11

In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the US Capitol.

Cheney said the assaults transformed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention 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 perished, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it now."

However during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, incompetence, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memorandum detailing circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.

Bush additionally had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting 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 military action against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that each person had to step on.

Questioning Techniques

However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were both insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.

Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."

Public Image

Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his lair? It's a effective way to function, truthfully."

Corporate Connections

Debate over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals worth substantial sums.

It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the company rose from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty