One-time Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Influential Political Career

The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "actual president".

Bush disliked that description and said the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.

The Aftermath of 9/11

At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the US Capitol.

Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Controversial Actions

He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view now."

But even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to act independently when collective action prove impossible," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.

Bush also had assumed the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's face that everyone had to tread upon.

Investigation Approaches

However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were either weak or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and torture.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."

External Perception

Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly come out of his lair? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."

Corporate Connections

Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at substantial sums.

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