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

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant holders of that position in American history. Although countless VPs were limited to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "real president".

Bush resented such a characterisation and said the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.

A Post-9/11 Era

At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the Capitol building.

Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, making him become focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Controversial Policies

He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I believe it now."

However even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memorandum detailing situations in which national priorities might be compromised (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.

Bush additionally had assumed the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's face that all visitors had to step on.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were both weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.

Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication 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 remains unseen emerge from his lair? That is a effective way to work, actually."

Commercial Ties

Dispute over his business interests followed him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had limited background in business but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling multiple billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm increased from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty