One-time Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Powerful Time in Office

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential holders of that position in American history. Although countless VPs had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney held substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "true president".

Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.

The Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a faction of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the US Capitol.

Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, making him become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Controversial Policies

He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the right thing to do then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance now."

But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a document outlining situations in which national priorities might be endangered (including "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to act independently when collective action prove impossible," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush additionally had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked 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 declared his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.

Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's countenance that everyone had to step on.

Questioning Techniques

Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were either thin or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and torture.

Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."

Public Persona

Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? That is a nice way to work, truthfully."

Commercial Ties

Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as vice-president. While he had limited background in business but good contacts in military, 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 chief executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling substantial sums.

It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty