One-time VP Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Impactful Political Career

The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most powerful incumbents of that office in US history. While countless vice-presidents were limited to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney held substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "real president".

Bush objected to this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.

The Post-9/11 Era

Leading of a group of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unidentified planes heading toward the Capitol building.

Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Controversial Actions

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I had faith then and I hold that view today."

Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memo detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush also had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked 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 intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.

Questioning Techniques

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were either weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and torture.

Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the bastards 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 deserve a lot of recognition."

Public Image

Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? It's a advantageous way to work, actually."

Business Interests

Controversy over his business interests pursued him through his period as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty