One-time VP Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Impactful Political Career

The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Although numerous vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "real president".

Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.

A Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention 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 attending a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the government building.

Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Controversial Policies

He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance now."

Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memorandum detailing situations in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush also had assumed the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed 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 announced his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.

Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's face that all visitors had to walk over.

Investigation Approaches

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were both thin or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."

External Perception

Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the background that remains unseen come out of his lair? That is a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."

Corporate Connections

Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals valued at multiple billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation rose from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty