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

The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant holders of that office in the nation's history. Although many VPs were confined to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "true president".

Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.

The Period Following the Attacks

At the head of a group of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive planes heading toward the Capitol building.

Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, making him become intent on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Controversial Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I had faith then and I hold that view now."

However even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, lying, incompetence, and corruption."

Broader Context

Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a document detailing scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (including "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush too had entered the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.

Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's face that everyone had to walk over.

Investigation Approaches

But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were both weak or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.

Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."

Public Persona

Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen leave his hole? This represents a effective way to work, truthfully."

Business Interests

Dispute over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Although he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals valued at substantial sums.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty