One-time Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Impactful Time in Office

The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most influential incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were confined to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney held huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".

Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.

A Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a group of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion 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 participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the government building.

Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, leading him to become intent on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Policies

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I believed it then and I believe it presently."

However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, incompetence, and graft."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.

Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's countenance that everyone had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of 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 is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in labels given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept 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: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen come out of his hole? That is a nice way to operate, actually."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in business but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth substantial sums.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm grew from his previous salary when he was military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty