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

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While many second-in-commands were limited to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".

Bush disliked this portrayal and said the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.

A Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a group of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unidentified airplanes nearing the Capitol building.

Cheney said the attacks transformed him, making him become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Controversial Actions

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the correct action to do then. I had faith at the time and I believe it presently."

However even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, incompetence, and corruption."

Broader Context

Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.

Bush additionally had assumed the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were both weak or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and torture.

Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."

External Perception

Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his hole? This represents a nice way to function, truthfully."

Business Interests

Debate over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling substantial sums.

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the corporation rose from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty