Ex- VP Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Influential Political Career

The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While countless VPs were limited to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "actual president".

Bush objected to that description and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.

A Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a group of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.

Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, making him become determined on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Actions

He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I believed it then and I believe it today."

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 reappointed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memorandum setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.

Bush additionally had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were whether thin or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and torture.

Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."

Public Image

Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly come out of his domain? That is a nice way to operate, actually."

Corporate Connections

Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the company increased from his $258,394 when he was military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty