Former Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Powerful Time in Office

The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most significant occupants of that position in the nation's history. Whereas countless VPs were limited to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney held substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".

Bush resented that description and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.

A Post-9/11 Era

At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the US Capitol.

Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Debated Actions

He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it now."

Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a document detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.

Bush also had assumed the presidency generally inclined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.

Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.

Investigation Approaches

But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were whether insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and torture.

Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."

Public Persona

Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? This represents a nice way to function, actually."

Business Interests

Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth multiple billions.

It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty