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

The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most powerful holders of that office in US history. While numerous vice-presidents were confined to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney held enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "real president".

Bush objected to that description and said the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a team because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.

A Post-9/11 Era

At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unidentified airplanes nearing the US Capitol.

Cheney said the strikes transformed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Controversial Actions

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I had faith then and I hold that view today."

Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and graft."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush also had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's countenance that everyone had to step on.

Questioning Techniques

However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.

Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."

Public Image

Cheney reveled in labels given to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? That is a effective way to operate, in fact."

Corporate Connections

Controversy over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars while military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty