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

The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas many VPs were limited to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "true president".

Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.

A Aftermath of 9/11

In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.

Cheney said the assaults changed him, leading him to become focused on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Policies

He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the correct action to do then. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance today."

But even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memorandum setting out situations in which US concerns might be compromised (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush additionally had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.

Questioning Techniques

But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were either weak or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and torture.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."

External Perception

Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on 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 the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? This represents a advantageous way to work, truthfully."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as second-in-command. While he had little experience in business but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling substantial sums.

It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars while military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty