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

The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas numerous VPs were limited to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".

Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.

A Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating planes approaching the US Capitol.

Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Debated Actions

He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the right thing to do back then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance today."

Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.

Bush too had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to tread upon.

Investigation Approaches

However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."

External Perception

Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his hole? It's a nice way to operate, actually."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his business interests accompanied him through his period as vice-president. While he had little experience in business but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals worth billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty