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

The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered one of the most influential occupants of that position in US history. While many vice-presidents were limited to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "real president".

Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.

The Period Following the Attacks

At the head of a group 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 terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes nearing the Capitol building.

Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Disputed Decisions

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance today."

But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, incompetence, and corruption."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a document outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.

Investigation Approaches

However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and torture.

Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."

Public Persona

Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly come out of his hole? It's a nice way to function, actually."

Commercial Ties

Debate over his business interests followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth substantial sums.

It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty