One-time Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Impactful Political Career

The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most significant occupants of that position in the nation's history. While many VPs were confined to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "actual president".

Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.

A Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a faction of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.

Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Debated Policies

He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I had faith back then and I hold that view now."

However even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, lying, unfitness, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.

Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to step on.

Investigation Approaches

Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were whether thin or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and torture.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."

Public Image

Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly come out of his lair? It's a nice way to work, truthfully."

Corporate Connections

Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had little experience in business but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals totaling substantial sums.

It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the company grew from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty