One-time Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Influential Government Service

The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered arguably the most influential holders of that office in American history. While numerous second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "real president".

Bush resented this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.

A Post-9/11 Era

In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.

Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Controversial Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the right thing to do then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view presently."

However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Broader Context

Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a document outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.

Bush also had assumed the White House generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot 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 floor mural with a image of his father's visage that everyone had to walk over.

Investigation Approaches

But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."

Public Persona

Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? It's a effective way to function, in fact."

Business Interests

Debate over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience 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 most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling multiple billions.

It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation rose from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty