Ex- VP Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Powerful Political Career

The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Although many second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".

Bush resented this portrayal and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.

A Period Following the Attacks

At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft nearing the Capitol building.

Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Debated Actions

He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view presently."

Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush also had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were both weak or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and torture.

Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? This represents a effective way to function, actually."

Commercial Ties

Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts worth substantial sums.

It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty