Ex- VP Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Powerful Political Career

The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful occupants of that position in the nation's history. Whereas many second-in-commands were confined to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney held huge power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".

Bush resented this portrayal and stated the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.

A Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified planes nearing the government building.

Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Disputed Actions

He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the proper decision to do then. I was convinced then and I hold that view now."

But even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a document detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.

Bush too had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.

Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's face that all visitors had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were either weak or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and torture.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."

Public Image

Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? This represents a effective way to operate, in fact."

Commercial Ties

Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in business but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at multiple billions.

It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty