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

The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most powerful holders of that position in American history. While numerous vice-presidents were confined to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised huge power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "true president".

Bush resented that description and stated the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.

A Aftermath of 9/11

At the head of a group of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any non-communicating planes heading toward the US Capitol.

Cheney said the assaults changed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Disputed Policies

He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I had faith then and I believe it presently."

But during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."

Broader Context

Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a document outlining situations in which American interests might be compromised (including "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush also had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's face that each person had to step on.

Questioning Techniques

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind striking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were either thin or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.

Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."

Public Persona

Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his lair? This represents a advantageous way to operate, actually."

Commercial Ties

Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as VP. While he had little experience in business but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals totaling billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation grew from his previous salary when he was military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty