One-time VP Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Influential Political Career

The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential incumbents of that office in US history. Whereas many second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "true president".

Bush resented such a characterisation and said the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.

A Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.

Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Decisions

He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance presently."

Yet even at the time, 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 dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memo detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's countenance that each person had to walk over.

Investigation Approaches

However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were either insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and torture.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, in fact."

Commercial Ties

Debate over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the company increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty