One-time Vice-President Dick Cheney: An Examination on His Powerful Time in Office

The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant incumbents of that position in US history. Although countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney held substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "actual president".

Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.

The Period Following the Attacks

Leading of a faction of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the government building.

Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Controversial Policies

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view now."

However even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memo outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.

Bush also had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were either weak or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and torture.

Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."

Public Persona

Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, 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 lair? It's a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."

Corporate Connections

Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the company grew from his previous salary when he was military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty