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

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as among the most powerful incumbents of that office in American history. Whereas many VPs were confined to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "true president".

Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.

The Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence 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. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unidentified airplanes approaching the Capitol building.

Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, making him become focused on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Controversial Policies

He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view today."

Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memo detailing circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.

Bush also had entered the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow 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 plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's countenance that all visitors had to step on.

Interrogation Methods

Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were whether thin or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.

Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist'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 malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly come out of his lair? This represents a effective way to operate, actually."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at substantial sums.

It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty