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

The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant holders of that office in the nation's history. Although numerous second-in-commands were limited to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "real president".

Bush objected to that description and said the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.

The Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the government building.

Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, making him become intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Controversial Decisions

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I had faith then and I hold that view presently."

Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, lying, incompetence, and corruption."

Broader Context

Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memo outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.

Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's face that all visitors had to tread upon.

Investigation Approaches

However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were both thin or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."

Public Image

Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, 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 leave his hole? This represents a nice way to work, truthfully."

Business Interests

Debate over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at substantial sums.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty