One-time VP Dick Cheney: An Examination on His Influential Time in Office

The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Although many vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney held enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "real president".

Bush disliked that description and said the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.

A Post-9/11 Era

At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the government building.

Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Disputed Policies

He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the right thing to do then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance now."

But even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a document outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.

Bush also had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.

Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's face that all visitors had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were either weak or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.

Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? It's a nice way to work, in fact."

Corporate Connections

Debate over his business interests followed him through his period as VP. Although he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling multiple billions.

It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm grew from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty