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

The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most powerful incumbents of that office in US history. Although many VPs had to settle for marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney held huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".

Bush disliked that description and said the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.

The Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a group of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.

Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, making him become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Disputed Policies

He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance today."

Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, unfitness, and graft."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memorandum outlining circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (including "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.

Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge 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 resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's face that each person had to walk over.

Investigation Approaches

But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were either thin or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his hole? It's a advantageous way to function, in fact."

Business Interests

Dispute over his business interests followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling multiple billions.

It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the company increased from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty