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

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential incumbents of that office in US history. Whereas many second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney held enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "real president".

Bush objected to that description and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.

A Post-9/11 Era

At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the government building.

Cheney said the strikes transformed him, leading him to become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Debated Policies

He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I believe it today."

Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (including "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.

Bush additionally had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's face that everyone had to walk over.

Investigation Approaches

However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and torture.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."

External Perception

Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly leave his lair? It's a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."

Commercial Ties

Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals worth billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty