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

The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While countless VPs had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "true president".

Bush disliked this portrayal and said the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.

The Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a group of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unidentified planes heading toward the Capitol building.

Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Controversial Policies

He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view presently."

However during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's visage that each person had to walk over.

Questioning Techniques

But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were both thin or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and torture.

Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."

Public Persona

Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen emerge from his lair? It's a nice way to function, truthfully."

Corporate Connections

Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at multiple billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the company grew from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty