One-time Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Powerful Time in Office

The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most powerful holders of that office in US history. While many vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney held huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".

Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.

A Post-9/11 Era

In charge of a group of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes nearing the Capitol building.

Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, making him become determined on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Actions

He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the correct action to do then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view today."

However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."

Broader Context

Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memo detailing circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (including "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.

Bush also had assumed the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.

Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and torture.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."

External Perception

Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his hole? This represents a nice way to operate, truthfully."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his business interests followed him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals totaling multiple billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company rose from his previous salary during his time as military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty