Ex- Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Influential Time in Office

The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful incumbents of that office in US history. Although many VPs were limited to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "real president".

Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.

The Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unidentified aircraft nearing the Capitol building.

Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Disputed Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I believed it back then and I believe it now."

However 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 region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memo outlining situations in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to act independently when collective action prove impossible," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.

Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.

Investigation Approaches

However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were either thin or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his domain? It's a advantageous way to function, truthfully."

Commercial Ties

Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as VP. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty