One-time VP Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Impactful Political Career

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant occupants of that position in American history. While many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney held huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "real president".

Bush disliked this portrayal and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.

A Aftermath of 9/11

At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.

Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Controversial Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I had faith then and I maintain that stance today."

Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a document outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to tread upon.

Investigation Approaches

Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were whether thin or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."

Public Persona

Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating 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 evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? That is a effective way to work, in fact."

Corporate Connections

Controversy over his business interests accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in business but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements worth multiple billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm grew from his $258,394 when he was military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty