Ex- VP Dick Cheney: A Look Back on His Impactful Time in Office

The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous vice-presidents were confined to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney held substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "true president".

Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.

The Period Following the Attacks

At the head of a group of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the government building.

Cheney said the attacks changed him, leading him to become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Controversial Decisions

He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I believed it then and I believe it today."

Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memorandum detailing circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush too had assumed the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.

Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's countenance that each person had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both weak or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and torture.

Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to capture the individuals who murdered 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 credit."

External Perception

Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen come out of his lair? This represents a effective way to function, in fact."

Business Interests

Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as VP. While he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals worth billions.

It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty