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

The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in the nation's history. Although numerous vice-presidents were confined to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "real president".

Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.

A Period Following the Attacks

Leading of a group of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the US Capitol.

Cheney stated the assaults changed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Disputed Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I believed it at the time and I believe it now."

However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (including "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.

Bush additionally had entered the White House generally inclined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, 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 involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's face that all visitors had to step on.

Questioning Techniques

Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were either weak or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.

Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."

External Perception

Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a nice way to work, in fact."

Commercial Ties

Controversy over his business interests accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling multiple billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty