Former VP Dick Cheney: A Look Back on His Powerful Political Career

The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as among the most influential occupants of that office in the nation's history. Whereas many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "actual president".

Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.

A Period Following the Attacks

At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unresponsive planes approaching the Capitol building.

Cheney said the assaults changed him, making him become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Controversial Actions

He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it today."

But during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a document outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (including "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.

Bush also had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.

Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's countenance that each person had to walk over.

Investigation Approaches

But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were whether weak or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."

External Perception

Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his domain? It's a nice way to operate, in fact."

Corporate Connections

Debate over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.

In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling billions.

It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company increased from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty