One-time Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Look Back on His Influential Time in Office

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant occupants of that position in the nation's history. While countless VPs had to settle for marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney held substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".

Bush objected to this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.

The Post-9/11 Era

At the head of a group of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unresponsive planes heading toward the Capitol building.

Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Actions

He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I had faith then and I maintain that stance now."

Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be endangered (including "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.

Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both insubstantial or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and torture.

Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."

Public Persona

Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, 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 corner that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a nice way to operate, truthfully."

Corporate Connections

Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth substantial sums.

It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm grew from his previous salary while defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty