Former Vice-President Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Powerful Political Career

The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful holders of that position in the nation's history. Although countless vice-presidents were limited to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "real president".

Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.

A Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a group of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the US Capitol.

Cheney said the attacks transformed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Disputed Actions

He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it then and I hold that view today."

However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high 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 role. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."

Broader Context

Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memo outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.

Bush too had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple 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 declared his intention of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.

Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to walk over.

Investigation Approaches

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and torture.

Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."

External Perception

Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, 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 corner that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? That is a nice way to function, truthfully."

Business Interests

Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as VP. Even though he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth substantial sums.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm rose from his $258,394 while military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty