Former VP Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Powerful Political Career

The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "real president".

Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.

The Period Following the Attacks

At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes nearing the Capitol building.

Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Controversial Policies

He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I hold that view presently."

Yet even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, unfitness, and corruption."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a document outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.

Bush additionally had assumed the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's countenance that each person had to tread upon.

Investigation Approaches

But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.

Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."

Public Persona

Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? That is a nice way to work, truthfully."

Business Interests

Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as VP. While he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts worth multiple billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty