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

The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although numerous VPs were confined to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "real president".

Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.

A Period Following the Attacks

Leading of a group of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.

Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Disputed Decisions

He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance presently."

Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush additionally had entered the White House generally inclined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's face that each person had to walk over.

Questioning Techniques

Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were either weak or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.

Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."

Public Image

Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly leave his domain? That is a advantageous way to function, truthfully."

Commercial Ties

Debate over his business interests accompanied him through his period as VP. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation grew from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty