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

The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were limited to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "actual president".

Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.

The Post-9/11 Era

At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft nearing the Capitol building.

Cheney said the strikes transformed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Disputed Policies

He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I believe it today."

But even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memorandum detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (including "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.

Bush additionally had entered the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.

Investigation Approaches

But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.

Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to capture the individuals 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 reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing 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 background that operates invisibly come out of his domain? It's a nice way to operate, truthfully."

Business Interests

Debate over his business interests followed him through his period as VP. While he had little experience in business but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling multiple billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the corporation grew from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty