Ex- VP Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Impactful Time in Office

The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most influential occupants of that office in American history. While countless VPs were confined to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".

Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.

A Post-9/11 Era

In charge of a faction of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the government building.

Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Debated Policies

He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I believed it back then and I hold that view presently."

However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.

Bush additionally had assumed the White House generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's face that each person had to step on.

Questioning Techniques

But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were both thin or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and torture.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."

Public Image

Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? This represents a nice way to work, truthfully."

Commercial Ties

Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty