Former VP Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Influential Time in Office

The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most powerful occupants of that position in the nation's history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents had to settle for minor or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".

Bush resented such a characterisation and said the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.

The Post-9/11 Era

In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any non-communicating planes heading toward the US Capitol.

Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Controversial Policies

He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I had faith then and I hold that view presently."

Yet even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memorandum outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (including "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's visage that everyone had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were either weak or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.

Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."

Public Image

Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, 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 sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen emerge from his domain? It's a nice way to operate, truthfully."

Business Interests

Controversy over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as VP. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at multiple billions.

It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty