Former Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Influential Political Career

The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant incumbents of that office in American history. Whereas many VPs were limited to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney held huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "actual president".

Bush objected to that description and claimed the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.

A Period Following the Attacks

At the head of a group of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the US Capitol.

Cheney said the assaults changed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Disputed Actions

He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view today."

Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memo detailing situations in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush also had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's visage that everyone had to step on.

Investigation Approaches

However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were both thin or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and torture.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."

External Perception

Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his hole? That is a nice way to function, in fact."

Corporate Connections

Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth billions.

It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty