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

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While numerous VPs were limited to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "actual president".

Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.

A Post-9/11 Era

Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.

Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Debated Policies

He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the right thing to do then. I had faith back then and I hold that view presently."

But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Broader Context

Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a document outlining circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.

Bush too had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.

Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's face that everyone had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were both thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.

Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."

Public Persona

Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume 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 operates invisibly come out of his lair? It's a nice way to operate, in fact."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts worth multiple billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm increased from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty