Former Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Influential Government Service

The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most powerful holders of that position in American history. Although numerous second-in-commands were confined to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "real president".

Bush resented this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.

A Post-9/11 Era

At the head of a group of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.

Cheney said the assaults changed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Controversial Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I hold that view presently."

However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush also had entered the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's countenance that everyone had to walk over.

Questioning Techniques

Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were either weak or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.

Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."

External Perception

Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume 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 shadows that remains unseen leave his lair? It's a effective way to operate, actually."

Corporate Connections

Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals worth substantial sums.

It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the company grew from his $258,394 while defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty