Former VP Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Powerful Government Service

The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most influential incumbents of that position in US history. While many vice-presidents were limited to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney held substantial power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "actual president".

Bush disliked this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.

A Period Following the Attacks

At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating planes nearing the government building.

Cheney stated the strikes changed him, making him become focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Disputed Actions

He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith then and I hold that view today."

Yet even then, there were opposing views 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 retained from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a document setting out situations in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush also had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were whether weak or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."

Public Image

Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen come out of his hole? This represents a effective way to function, actually."

Corporate Connections

Debate over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as VP. While he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.

In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth multiple billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation grew from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty