Former Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Impactful Political Career

The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful incumbents of that position in US history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were confined to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "actual president".

Bush resented this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.

A Post-9/11 Era

In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the government building.

Cheney said the strikes changed him, making him become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Controversial Actions

He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance today."

But even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."

Broader Context

Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a document setting out situations in which national priorities might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.

Bush too had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to step on.

Investigation Approaches

However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were both weak or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and torture.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."

External Perception

Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume 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 background that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? That is a effective way to function, actually."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals valued at substantial sums.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the company increased from his $258,394 while military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty