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

The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most significant holders of that office in American history. Whereas countless vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "true president".

Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.

The Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unidentified planes heading toward the Capitol building.

Cheney stated the assaults changed him, making him become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Debated Actions

He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the right thing to do then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance today."

However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."

Broader Context

Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a document setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush additionally had entered the White House somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.

Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's countenance that each person had to step on.

Interrogation Methods

But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were both weak or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and torture.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to apprehend the bastards who murdered 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 praise."

Public Persona

Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? This represents a effective way to operate, truthfully."

Corporate Connections

Debate over his business interests followed him throughout his time as VP. While he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts worth substantial sums.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty