One-time Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Look Back on His Powerful Government Service

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most influential occupants of that position in American history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were confined to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney held enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "true president".

Bush disliked that description and said the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.

A Period Following the Attacks

At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating planes nearing the government building.

Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, making him become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Policies

He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance today."

However even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a document setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to act independently when collective action prove impossible," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.

Bush also had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's face that everyone had to tread upon.

Questioning Techniques

Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind invading Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were whether thin or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.

Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."

External Perception

Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, 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 operates invisibly come out of his domain? It's a advantageous way to operate, actually."

Corporate Connections

Controversy over his business interests followed him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty