Former Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Powerful Political Career

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered one of the most powerful holders of that position in the nation's history. Although countless VPs were confined to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "actual president".

Bush disliked that description and stated the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public settings as the President, while he referred to 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 wide array of administrative determinations.

The Aftermath of 9/11

In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the Capitol building.

Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Disputed Decisions

He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I believe it today."

Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document detailing scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush also had assumed the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to tread upon.

Investigation Approaches

However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were whether thin or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and torture.

Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to catch 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."

Public Persona

Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his hole? This represents a advantageous way to operate, actually."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as VP. While he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth multiple billions.

It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty