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

The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas countless vice-presidents had to settle for minor or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "real president".

Bush disliked this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.

The Period Following the Attacks

Leading of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed 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. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the Capitol building.

Cheney stated the attacks changed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Debated Actions

He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the right thing to do then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view today."

Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memo outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, 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 regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to step on.

Questioning Techniques

However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were whether thin or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept 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 reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his domain? This represents a effective way to operate, truthfully."

Commercial Ties

Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at substantial sums.

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars while military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty