Former Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Influential Time in Office

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas numerous VPs had to settle for peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney held substantial power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "real president".

Bush objected to this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.

The Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive planes nearing the Capitol building.

Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Disputed Policies

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I hold that view now."

But even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and graft."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memo detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were both weak or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."

Public Image

Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication 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 operates invisibly come out of his hole? It's a effective way to work, truthfully."

Commercial Ties

Dispute over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at substantial sums.

It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the company grew from his $258,394 when he was military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty