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

The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Whereas many vice-presidents had to settle for minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "real president".

Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.

A Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the government building.

Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Actions

He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view now."

However even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and graft."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memo outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.

Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.

Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that each person had to step on.

Questioning Techniques

However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were either thin or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and torture.

Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."

External Perception

Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the background that remains unseen come out of his hole? That is a advantageous way to function, actually."

Commercial Ties

Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had limited background in business but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling substantial sums.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty