Ex- Vice-President Dick Cheney: An Examination on His Powerful Political Career

The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of that position in US history. Although many VPs had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney held huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "actual president".

Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.

The Post-9/11 Era

Leading of a group of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unidentified airplanes approaching the Capitol building.

Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Controversial Actions

He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the right thing to do then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance presently."

However even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memo outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.

Bush also had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed 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 declared his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were either thin or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.

Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."

Public Image

Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea 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 quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen leave his domain? It's a nice way to operate, in fact."

Corporate Connections

Controversy over his business interests accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.

It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the firm rose from his $258,394 when he was military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty