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

The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful incumbents of that office in the nation's history. While numerous vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney held substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "real president".

Bush objected to this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.

A Period Following the Attacks

Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unidentified planes approaching the government building.

Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Debated Actions

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced back then and I believe it today."

However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, deception, incompetence, and corruption."

Broader Context

Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing situations in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush also had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's face that all visitors had to walk over.

Investigation Approaches

However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were whether thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."

Public Image

Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his lair? That is a nice way to function, truthfully."

Commercial Ties

Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.

In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth multiple billions.

It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty