Ex- Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Look Back on His Influential Political Career

The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as among the most influential occupants of that position in the nation's history. While countless vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded huge power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "true president".

Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.

The Post-9/11 Era

In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the Capitol building.

Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, leading him to become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Disputed Actions

He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I believe it today."

But even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memo detailing scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.

Bush additionally had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill 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 floor mural with a portrait of his parent's face that each person had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were either thin or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.

Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."

Public Persona

Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, in fact."

Business Interests

Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as VP. Although he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at substantial sums.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation rose from his previous salary while military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty