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

The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas many second-in-commands had to settle for minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".

Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.

The Aftermath of 9/11

In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.

Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Controversial Decisions

He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view presently."

However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and corruption."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memo outlining scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were whether weak or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.

Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."

Public Image

Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume 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 background that operates invisibly leave his lair? That is a nice way to work, truthfully."

Commercial Ties

Controversy over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had little experience in business but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at multiple billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation grew from his $258,394 when he was military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty