One-time VP Dick Cheney: A Look Back on His Impactful Time in Office

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in US history. While many second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".

Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.

A Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unidentified airplanes approaching the government building.

Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Disputed Policies

He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the right thing to do back then. I believed it then and I hold that view now."

Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memo detailing circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.

Bush too had entered the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's face that all visitors had to step on.

Questioning Techniques

Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were either weak or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and torture.

Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."

Public Image

Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen come out of his lair? This represents a nice way to operate, truthfully."

Business Interests

Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.

In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the firm increased from his previous salary while defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty