Ex- Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Powerful Political Career

The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were limited to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "true president".

Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.

The Post-9/11 Era

Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the US Capitol.

Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Debated Policies

He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not 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 circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the right thing to do back then. I had faith at the time and I believe it now."

But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a document detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.

Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's visage that each person had to step on.

Interrogation Methods

But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.

Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."

External Perception

Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen come out of his hole? This represents a effective way to function, in fact."

Business Interests

Debate over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at multiple billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty