One-time VP Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Powerful Time in Office

The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. While many vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded huge power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "real president".

Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.

The Aftermath of 9/11

In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unidentified airplanes nearing the government building.

Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Debated Policies

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance presently."

But even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Broader Context

Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memorandum outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (including "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.

Bush too had entered the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.

Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.

Questioning Techniques

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were both thin or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.

Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly come out of his hole? That is a nice way to operate, actually."

Commercial Ties

Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.

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

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty