One-time VP Dick Cheney: A Look Back on His Powerful Political Career

The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although countless vice-presidents were confined to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "actual president".

Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.

The Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion 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 attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unresponsive planes heading toward the government building.

Cheney said the assaults changed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Disputed Policies

He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I had faith then and I maintain that stance presently."

But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a document detailing circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had entered the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.

Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to tread upon.

Investigation Approaches

But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were both thin or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."

Public Persona

Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen come out of his domain? That is a effective way to work, in fact."

Corporate Connections

Debate over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the company increased from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty