Former Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Influential Political Career

The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered arguably the most influential incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Although many second-in-commands were confined to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "true president".

Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.

A Post-9/11 Era

At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.

Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Controversial Policies

He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith back then and I hold that view today."

But during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."

Broader Context

Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memo setting out situations in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.

Bush too had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's face that all visitors had to tread upon.

Questioning Techniques

But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were whether thin or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and torture.

Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."

External Perception

Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen leave his hole? That is a effective way to operate, actually."

Business Interests

Dispute over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at multiple billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty