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

The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant holders of that position in US history. Although countless vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "true president".

Bush objected to that description and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.

A Post-9/11 Era

At the head of a group of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the government building.

Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance today."

However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memo detailing situations in which American interests might be threatened (including "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had entered the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared 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, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were either thin or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and torture.

Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."

External Perception

Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist'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 sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? This represents a effective way to operate, actually."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as VP. Although he had minimal expertise 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 petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals valued at substantial sums.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty