Ex- VP Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Impactful Time in Office

The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Although many VPs were limited to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "true president".

Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.

The Post-9/11 Era

In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.

Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Debated Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I believed it then and I believe it now."

However even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and graft."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a document outlining situations in which US concerns might be threatened (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.

Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to walk over.

Questioning Techniques

Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were whether weak or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? This represents a advantageous way to operate, actually."

Business Interests

Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company increased from his $258,394 while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty