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

The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful holders of that office in US history. While many vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "real president".

Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.

The Period Following the Attacks

At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.

Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, making him become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Debated Policies

He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it back then and I hold that view presently."

However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document detailing circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to act independently when collective action prove impossible," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.

Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's visage that each person had to step on.

Questioning Techniques

However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were both thin or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.

Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."

External Perception

Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power 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 evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? It's a effective way to operate, truthfully."

Business Interests

Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as vice-president. Although he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at substantial sums.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm grew from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty