Ex- Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Impactful Political Career

The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. While numerous second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "true president".

Bush resented that description and claimed the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.

A Aftermath of 9/11

At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the government building.

Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Disputed Decisions

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I believed it at the time and I believe it today."

But even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, lying, incompetence, and corruption."

Broader Context

Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (including "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush additionally had entered the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's countenance that each person had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."

External Perception

Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, 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 operates invisibly come out of his hole? It's a effective way to work, actually."

Commercial Ties

Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as vice-president. Although he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals worth multiple billions.

It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty