One-time VP Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Impactful Time in Office

The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Although countless VPs had to settle for marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded enormous power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "real president".

Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.

A Post-9/11 Era

At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.

Cheney said the assaults changed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Controversial Actions

He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it now."

But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memo setting out situations in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush also had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting 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 military action against Iraq.

Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's face that all visitors had to walk over.

Questioning Techniques

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and torture.

Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his domain? That is a effective way to work, in fact."

Commercial Ties

Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in business but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at multiple billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the company grew from his previous salary when he was military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty