One-time VP Dick Cheney: A Look Back on His Influential Time in Office

The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas numerous VPs were limited to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "real president".

Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.

The Aftermath of 9/11

At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unidentified aircraft approaching the government building.

Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Controversial Actions

He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance now."

However even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memo outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (including "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.

Investigation Approaches

But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were whether weak or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his lair? It's a advantageous way to function, truthfully."

Business Interests

Controversy over his business interests followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.

It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation rose from his previous salary when he was military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty