Ex- VP Dick Cheney: A Look Back on His Influential Time in Office

The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were confined to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "actual president".

Bush disliked that description and claimed the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.

A Aftermath of 9/11

In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the Capitol building.

Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Debated Decisions

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the right thing to do then. I had faith then and I hold that view presently."

But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memo outlining situations in which US concerns might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.

Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's face that all visitors had to step on.

Questioning Techniques

However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.

Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."

Public Persona

Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker'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 corner that nobody ever sees leave his hole? That is a advantageous way to function, actually."

Corporate Connections

Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth substantial sums.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation rose from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty