Former VP Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Powerful Government Service

The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas many vice-presidents had to settle for minor or symbolic roles, Cheney held huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "true president".

Bush resented that description and claimed the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.

A Period Following the Attacks

Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.

Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Debated Decisions

He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I was convinced back then and I believe it today."

But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memo outlining situations in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush also had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked 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 objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's face that each person had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were both thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.

Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, 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 cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? That is a advantageous way to function, in fact."

Commercial Ties

Controversy over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had little experience in business but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at billions.

It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation increased from his previous salary while military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty