Former Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Influential Time in Office

The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered one of the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. While many second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney held substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "real president".

Bush resented that description and stated the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.

A Period Following the Attacks

At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unresponsive planes approaching the Capitol building.

Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Controversial Actions

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the proper decision to do then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view now."

However even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, lying, incompetence, and corruption."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a document detailing situations in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush also had entered the White House generally inclined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.

Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's face that each person had to tread upon.

Questioning Techniques

But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were whether weak or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.

Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."

Public Image

Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen come out of his hole? That is a nice way to operate, in fact."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty