Ex- VP Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Influential Time in Office

The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. While countless VPs had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "true president".

Bush objected to that description and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a team 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 Period Following the Attacks

At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unidentified airplanes nearing the US Capitol.

Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Controversial Decisions

He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance presently."

However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a document outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (including "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.

Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were whether weak or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.

Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his lair? It's a effective way to work, truthfully."

Business Interests

Controversy over his business interests followed him through his period as second-in-command. While he had limited background in business but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at billions.

It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm grew from his $258,394 while military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty