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

The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered one of the most influential incumbents of that position in American history. Although numerous VPs were limited to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "true president".

Bush resented this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.

The Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the US Capitol.

Cheney said the attacks transformed him, making him become intent on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture 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 Actions

He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance today."

But even then, 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 retained from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a document setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.

Bush too had assumed the White House generally inclined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were whether insubstantial or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."

Public Persona

Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his domain? That is a advantageous way to work, truthfully."

Business Interests

Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as second-in-command. While he had little experience in business but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling multiple billions.

It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty