One-time Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Look Back on His Influential Government Service

The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were limited to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney held substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "true president".

Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.

A Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified aircraft nearing the US Capitol.

Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Controversial Decisions

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the correct action to do then. I believed it back then and I believe it presently."

Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Broader Context

Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.

Bush also had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's countenance that each person had to walk over.

Investigation Approaches

However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were both insubstantial or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and torture.

Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."

External Perception

Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his lair? It's a nice way to operate, actually."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements worth substantial sums.

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty