Ex- Vice-President Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Impactful Political Career

The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Although many VPs were limited to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "true president".

Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in official appearances as Mr 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. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.

A Post-9/11 Era

At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief 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. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the government building.

Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Controversial Actions

He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance now."

Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, unfitness, and graft."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the White House generally inclined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's countenance that each person had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were either thin or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."

Public Image

Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen leave his domain? That is a nice way to work, actually."

Business Interests

Controversy over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as VP. While he had limited background in business but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth substantial sums.

It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty