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

The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most powerful holders of that position in American history. Whereas countless VPs had to settle for minor or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "real president".

Bush objected to that description and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.

The Period Following the Attacks

At the head of a group of conservative hawks that included 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 terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unresponsive planes nearing the Capitol building.

Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Debated Actions

He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance today."

However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, unfitness, and corruption."

Broader Context

Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memorandum setting out situations in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.

Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.

Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's visage that each person had to step on.

Investigation Approaches

However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were either insubstantial or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and torture.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."

Public Image

Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating 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 malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his domain? That is a nice way to operate, in fact."

Business Interests

Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.

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