One-time VP Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Impactful Government Service

The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most influential incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Although countless VPs were limited to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney held enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "actual president".

Bush disliked that description and said the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a team because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.

A Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a group of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unidentified airplanes nearing the government building.

Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, leading him to become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Decisions

He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the correct action to do back then. I believed it then and I believe it today."

But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memo outlining circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.

Questioning Techniques

But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were both thin or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.

Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."

Public Image

Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling 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: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly leave his hole? That is a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."

Corporate Connections

Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals worth billions.

It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the company increased from his $258,394 while military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty