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

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered arguably the most significant holders of that position in the nation's history. Although numerous second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "actual president".

Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.

The Post-9/11 Era

In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unidentified airplanes approaching the government building.

Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Debated Actions

He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view today."

Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, deception, incompetence, and corruption."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a document setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (including "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, 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 reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's countenance that each person had to tread upon.

Investigation Approaches

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."

External Perception

Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his lair? This represents a effective way to operate, actually."

Corporate Connections

Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals totaling billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty