Former Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Influential Time in Office

The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in American history. While numerous second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "real president".

Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.

A Period Following the Attacks

Leading of a group of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief 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 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified planes heading toward the government building.

Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Disputed Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance now."

Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo outlining situations in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.

Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's face that all visitors had to step on.

Interrogation Methods

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were whether weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.

Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."

Public Image

Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book 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 shadows that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a nice way to operate, truthfully."

Business Interests

Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as VP. While he had little experience in business but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals totaling substantial sums.

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the firm grew from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty