One-time Vice-President Dick Cheney: An Examination on His Influential Political Career

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential incumbents of that position in the nation's history. While countless vice-presidents had to settle for minor or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the presidency 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 complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.

A Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.

Cheney said the assaults changed him, making him become determined on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Disputed Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I had faith back then and I hold that view today."

However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a document outlining situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were both thin or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and torture.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."

Public Persona

Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? This represents a nice way to operate, truthfully."

Business Interests

Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts worth multiple billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation grew from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty