Former Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Influential Political Career

The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most significant occupants of that office in US history. While numerous second-in-commands were confined to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney held enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "true president".

Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.

The Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted 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 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes approaching the Capitol building.

Cheney stated the assaults changed him, making him become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Actions

He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the correct action to do then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it presently."

Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and corruption."

Broader Context

Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.

Bush also had entered the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.

Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were both thin or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.

Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."

External Perception

Cheney reveled in labels given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, 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 background that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a effective way to work, truthfully."

Business Interests

Debate over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as vice-president. Although he had little experience in business but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.

In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling billions.

It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm grew from his $258,394 when he was military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty