Ex- VP Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Impactful Political Career

The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were confined to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "real president".

Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.

The Post-9/11 Era

In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive planes approaching the US Capitol.

Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Disputed Actions

He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance presently."

Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."

Broader Context

Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memo setting out situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.

Bush additionally had assumed the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's face that all visitors had to walk over.

Questioning Techniques

But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were whether weak or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."

Public Persona

Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his lair? That is a nice way to function, actually."

Commercial Ties

Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals valued at multiple billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the firm grew from his previous salary when he was military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty