Former VP Dick Cheney: A Look Back on His Influential Time in Office

The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although numerous VPs were confined to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "real president".

Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.

A Period Following the Attacks

At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the government building.

Cheney said the strikes changed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Disputed Policies

He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the right thing to do back then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance today."

Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, unfitness, and graft."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document detailing situations in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.

Bush also had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's visage that all visitors had to step on.

Investigation Approaches

However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were whether weak or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.

Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."

External Perception

Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? It's a advantageous way to work, actually."

Business Interests

Debate over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in business but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

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

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the company rose from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty