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

The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas numerous VPs were limited to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised enormous sway 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 complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.

A Post-9/11 Era

At the head of a group of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.

Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, making him become intent on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Policies

He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced then and I believe it today."

Yet even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, unfitness, and corruption."

Broader Context

Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a document setting out situations in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.

Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's face that each person had to tread upon.

Investigation Approaches

Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were whether weak or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and torture.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."

Public Image

Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly leave his hole? It's a effective way to operate, actually."

Corporate Connections

Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty