Ex- VP Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Influential Government Service

The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered arguably the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Although numerous VPs had to settle for minor or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "actual president".

Bush objected to that description and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.

The Aftermath of 9/11

At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.

Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I hold that view today."

But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memo outlining circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush also had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's visage that each person had to step on.

Questioning Techniques

But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and torture.

Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to capture 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 earn a lot of praise."

Public Image

Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? It's a effective way to function, truthfully."

Business Interests

Controversy over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty