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

The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most influential occupants of that position in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "real president".

Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.

The Aftermath of 9/11

At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes approaching the US Capitol.

Cheney stated the strikes changed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Disputed Actions

He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view now."

But even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."

Broader Context

Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a document outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (including "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.

Bush too had entered the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's face that all visitors had to step on.

Interrogation Methods

But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were either weak or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."

External Perception

Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen leave his lair? This represents a effective way to work, actually."

Commercial Ties

Debate over his business interests accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals valued at billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty