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

The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "actual president".

Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.

A Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a faction of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the government building.

Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Disputed Policies

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced then and I believe it presently."

Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a document detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (including "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.

Bush also had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's face that each person had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were either thin or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 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 took pleasure in labels given to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his domain? That is a nice way to work, truthfully."

Business Interests

Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as VP. Even though he had limited background in business but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at multiple billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm grew from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty