One-time Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Powerful Government Service

The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered among the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Although many vice-presidents were confined to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "real president".

Bush resented such a characterisation and said the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.

The Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion 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 taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the US Capitol.

Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Disputed Actions

He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance now."

But even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, incompetence, and corruption."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush also had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary 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 engagement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to tread upon.

Questioning Techniques

But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and torture.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."

External Perception

Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen come out of his domain? This represents a nice way to operate, truthfully."

Corporate Connections

Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had little experience in business but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth multiple billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the company grew from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty