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

The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most significant incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Although countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "true president".

Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.

A Aftermath of 9/11

At the head of a faction of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unidentified planes approaching the Capitol building.

Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Controversial Actions

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced then and I believe it presently."

However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."

Broader Context

Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.

Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.

Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's visage that everyone had to tread upon.

Investigation Approaches

But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were whether thin or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."

External Perception

Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen leave his domain? This represents a nice way to operate, in fact."

Corporate Connections

Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as VP. Although he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty