One-time VP Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Impactful Time in Office

The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential holders of that position in the nation's history. While many VPs had to settle for peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney held huge power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "actual president".

Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.

A Post-9/11 Era

At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified planes approaching the US Capitol.

Cheney said the assaults changed him, making him become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Policies

He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I had faith back then and I hold that view now."

However even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo setting out situations in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush also had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's face that all visitors had to step on.

Investigation Approaches

Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and torture.

Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."

Public Persona

Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? This represents a nice way to function, truthfully."

Business Interests

Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had limited background in business but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling multiple billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty