One-time VP Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Powerful Political Career

The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful occupants of that position in American history. Although many VPs had to settle for marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".

Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.

A Aftermath of 9/11

At the head of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion 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 participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the government building.

Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Debated Actions

He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the right thing to do back then. I believed it then and I hold that view today."

Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a high 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 dismissed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Broader Context

Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memorandum setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (including "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.

Bush also had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to step on.

Investigation Approaches

But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were both weak or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.

Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."

Public Image

Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his hole? That is a advantageous way to function, actually."

Business Interests

Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Although he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at 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 presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling multiple billions.

It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty