One-time Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Powerful Government Service

The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were limited to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney held huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "true president".

Bush resented that description and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.

The Aftermath of 9/11

At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the government building.

Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Disputed Decisions

He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I believed it then and I hold that view today."

Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level 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 post. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, incompetence, and corruption."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memo detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (including "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.

Bush also had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme 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 likeness of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were either weak or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.

Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."

Public Persona

Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his hole? That is a nice way to operate, in fact."

Commercial Ties

Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty