Former VP Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Influential Time in Office

The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Although numerous vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "actual president".

Bush objected to that description and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.

The Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a group of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive planes approaching the government building.

Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Controversial Policies

He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I was convinced then and I hold that view today."

However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."

Broader Context

Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memo outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.

Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to step on.

Questioning Techniques

But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were both weak or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."

External Perception

Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, in fact."

Commercial Ties

Debate over his business interests pursued him through his period as vice-president. Although he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth billions.

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