Former VP Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Powerful Time in Office

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential occupants of that office in American history. Although countless vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney held enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "real president".

Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.

The Period Following the Attacks

At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the Capitol building.

Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Disputed Actions

He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view today."

Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Broader Context

Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memorandum setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (including "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush additionally had assumed the White House generally inclined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.

Investigation Approaches

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were whether thin or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and torture.

Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly come out of his lair? This represents a advantageous way to operate, actually."

Commercial Ties

Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at substantial sums.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation increased from his previous salary during his time as military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty