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

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Although numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".

Bush disliked that description and said the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.

A Period Following the Attacks

Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted 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 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unresponsive planes heading toward the US Capitol.

Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Debated Actions

He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance presently."

Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions 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 role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memo detailing situations in which American interests might be threatened (including "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.

Bush also had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's countenance that everyone had to walk over.

Questioning Techniques

Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were either weak or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and torture.

Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."

Public Persona

Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? That is a advantageous way to work, in fact."

Commercial Ties

Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as VP. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at multiple billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty