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

The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Although numerous VPs were limited to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "actual president".

Bush disliked that description and said the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.

A Aftermath of 9/11

In charge of a group of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the government building.

Cheney said the strikes changed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Debated Actions

He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the correct action to do then. I was convinced then and I hold that view now."

But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and corruption."

Broader Context

Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memorandum detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had entered the White House generally inclined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's visage that all visitors had to step on.

Interrogation Methods

But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were whether weak or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and torture.

Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."

External Perception

Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? That is a advantageous way to work, actually."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had limited background 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 oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm grew from his previous salary while military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty