One-time VP Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Impactful Government Service

The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful holders of that position in American history. Although many second-in-commands were confined to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "actual president".

Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.

The Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unidentified planes heading toward the US Capitol.

Cheney said the attacks transformed him, making him become focused on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Debated Actions

He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance presently."

Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.

Bush too had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.

Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were both weak or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.

Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a advantageous way to work, in fact."

Corporate Connections

Controversy over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the corporation increased from his $258,394 while defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty