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

The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered one of the most influential occupants of that office in American history. Although numerous second-in-commands had to settle for minor or symbolic positions, Cheney held huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "real president".

Bush objected to that description and stated the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.

A Post-9/11 Era

In charge of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the Capitol building.

Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Controversial Decisions

He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I hold that view today."

However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and corruption."

Broader Context

Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum detailing circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.

Bush also had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's face that each person had to tread upon.

Questioning Techniques

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application 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 disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."

Public Persona

Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? That is a nice way to function, actually."

Business Interests

Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as VP. Although he had little experience in business but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling substantial sums.

It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty