One-time Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Impactful Time in Office

The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While numerous second-in-commands were confined to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "true president".

Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.

A Aftermath of 9/11

In charge of a faction of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command 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 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the government building.

Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Controversial Actions

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I believed it back then and I believe it now."

But even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memo setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.

Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's face that everyone had to step on.

Interrogation Methods

Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were whether weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."

External Perception

Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author'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 evil genius in the background that remains unseen leave his domain? This represents a advantageous way to work, actually."

Corporate Connections

Debate over his business interests followed him through his period as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his $258,394 during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty