One-time Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Impactful Political Career

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of that position in American history. Although countless vice-presidents were confined to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "actual president".

Bush objected to that description and stated the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.

The Post-9/11 Era

At the head of a group of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.

Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Debated Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I believed it back then and I hold that view today."

But even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush additionally had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.

Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.

Questioning Techniques

However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were both weak or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.

Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing 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 evil genius in the background that remains unseen leave his lair? That is a effective way to function, truthfully."

Commercial Ties

Controversy over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty