One-time VP Dick Cheney: A Look Back on His Powerful Government Service

The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of that office in US history. While many VPs had to settle for peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney held substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "real president".

Bush resented that description and said the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.

The Post-9/11 Era

In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unresponsive planes heading toward the Capitol building.

Cheney stated the assaults changed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Disputed Policies

He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance now."

Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a document setting out situations in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush also had entered the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to step on.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."

Public Persona

Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, 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 shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? That is a effective way to function, in fact."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as vice-president. Although he had little experience in business but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty