One-time VP Dick Cheney: A Look Back on His Powerful Political Career

The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas many VPs had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "actual president".

Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.

A Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer 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 traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified planes nearing the Capitol building.

Cheney said the attacks transformed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Controversial Actions

He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I had faith then and I maintain that stance now."

However even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memorandum detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush additionally had entered the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's countenance that each person had to step on.

Investigation Approaches

But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were whether weak or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and torture.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."

Public Image

Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? This represents a nice way to function, truthfully."

Corporate Connections

Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.

It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the company rose from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty