Former Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Impactful Time in Office

The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most influential occupants of that position in American history. Whereas countless VPs had to settle for minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "actual president".

Bush disliked this portrayal and said the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.

The Period Following the Attacks

Leading of a group of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the Capitol building.

Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, making him become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Debated Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the correct action to do then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view presently."

However even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, incompetence, and corruption."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memo outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush additionally had assumed the presidency generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's countenance that each person had to tread upon.

Questioning Techniques

But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were either thin or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.

Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."

External Perception

Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly come out of his lair? That is a nice way to work, truthfully."

Commercial Ties

Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company grew from his previous salary while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty