Former Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Impactful Time in Office

The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. While numerous vice-presidents were confined to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney held substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "actual president".

Bush objected to this portrayal and said the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.

A Post-9/11 Era

In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, 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 destruction of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the government building.

Cheney said the strikes changed him, making him become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Debated Policies

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I believed it back then and I believe it today."

But during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."

Broader Context

Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memorandum outlining circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (including "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush also had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined 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 declared his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were both insubstantial or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.

Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a effective way to work, in fact."

Commercial Ties

Dispute over his business interests followed him throughout his time as VP. Although he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

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

It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the firm grew from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty