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

The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. While countless vice-presidents were limited to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "actual president".

Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.

The Aftermath of 9/11

At the head of a group of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the Capitol building.

Cheney said the attacks transformed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Disputed Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I believe it now."

However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and corruption."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum outlining situations in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's face that everyone had to tread upon.

Investigation Approaches

However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.

Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."

Public Image

Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his lair? That is a nice way to operate, truthfully."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his business interests accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at substantial sums.

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty