Former Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Impactful Government Service

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. Although many vice-presidents were limited to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney held huge power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "true president".

Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.

The Aftermath of 9/11

In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes nearing the government building.

Cheney said the attacks changed him, making him become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Debated Policies

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I hold that view today."

But during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memo outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.

Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.

Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."

Public Image

Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? It's a effective way to operate, actually."

Business Interests

Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

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 annual income during his tenure at the corporation increased from his previous salary during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty