Former VP Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Powerful Political Career

The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney held enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "true president".

Bush disliked that description and said the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.

The Post-9/11 Era

At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified aircraft nearing the government building.

Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Controversial Policies

He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view today."

But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a document detailing situations in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush also had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's face that each person had to step on.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were whether thin or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and torture.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."

External Perception

Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? That is a nice way to work, truthfully."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as vice-president. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling substantial sums.

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the corporation increased from his previous salary during his time as military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty