Former VP Dick Cheney: An Examination on His Influential Political Career

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered arguably the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Although countless VPs were confined to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "true president".

Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.

A Post-9/11 Era

Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.

Cheney said the attacks transformed him, making him become focused on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Debated Policies

He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance today."

But during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memo detailing scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (including "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.

Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.

Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's face that everyone had to tread upon.

Questioning Techniques

Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in labels given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen leave his lair? This represents a nice way to function, in fact."

Business Interests

Controversy over his business interests accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at billions.

It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty