Ex- VP Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Influential Time in Office

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered arguably the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous vice-presidents were confined to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney held enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".

Bush disliked this portrayal and said the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.

The Aftermath of 9/11

At the head of a group of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.

Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, making him become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Controversial Policies

He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I believed it then and I hold that view today."

Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memo outlining situations in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.

Bush also had assumed the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's countenance that each person had to step on.

Questioning Techniques

Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were whether thin or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? That is a advantageous way to function, truthfully."

Commercial Ties

Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at multiple billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty