Ex- Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Look Back on His Influential Political Career

The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in American history. While many VPs were limited to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "true president".

Bush resented that description and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.

The Aftermath of 9/11

At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unidentified planes nearing the Capitol building.

Cheney said the assaults transformed him, making him become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Controversial Actions

He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance today."

But even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memo setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush also had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and torture.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."

External Perception

Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his domain? It's a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."

Commercial Ties

Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at multiple billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation increased from his $258,394 when he was military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty