One-time VP Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Powerful Time in Office

The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Although numerous second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney held huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".

Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.

The Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the government building.

Cheney said the strikes transformed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Controversial Policies

He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I believed it then and I hold that view presently."

But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memo detailing circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.

Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's face that all visitors had to tread upon.

Questioning Techniques

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were whether weak or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.

Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."

Public Image

Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen come out of his domain? This represents a advantageous way to work, in fact."

Commercial Ties

Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at substantial sums.

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty