One-time Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Influential Political Career

The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most influential occupants of that office in US history. Although many VPs were confined to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded huge power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "true president".

Bush objected to that description and stated the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.

A Post-9/11 Era

Leading of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.

Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Policies

He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the correct action to do then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance presently."

But even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's face that all visitors had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were either weak or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.

Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."

Public Image

Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his hole? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."

Corporate Connections

Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals totaling multiple billions.

It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the firm increased from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty