Former VP Dick Cheney: An Examination on His Powerful Time in Office

The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential occupants of that office in US history. While numerous VPs were limited to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "true president".

Bush resented this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.

The Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive planes nearing the Capitol building.

Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Disputed Decisions

He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced then and I hold that view presently."

But even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum detailing situations in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush also had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's face that everyone had to step on.

Questioning Techniques

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were either thin or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and torture.

Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? It's a advantageous way to work, truthfully."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth multiple billions.

It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty