Former Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: An Examination on His Impactful Political Career
The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Although countless second-in-commands were limited to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I believe it presently."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a document outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were both thin or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? That is a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as VP. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships 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 leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
