Former Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Look Back on His Impactful Political Career

The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful occupants of that position in the nation's history. Although countless vice-presidents were limited to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney held substantial power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "real president".

Bush disliked this portrayal and said the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.

A Aftermath of 9/11

At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for 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 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unresponsive planes approaching the US Capitol.

Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Disputed Actions

He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance presently."

However during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and graft."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.

Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's countenance that everyone had to step on.

Interrogation Methods

But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were either insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and torture.

Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [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 make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."

External Perception

Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his hole? This represents a nice way to function, actually."

Commercial Ties

Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had little experience in business but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling substantial sums.

It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the corporation increased from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty