One-time Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Influential Government Service

The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Although countless VPs had to settle for minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney held huge power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "true president".

Bush resented this portrayal and said the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.

A Aftermath of 9/11

At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.

Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, making him become determined on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Controversial Policies

He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced then and I believe it today."

Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Broader Context

Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memorandum setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush also had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed 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 engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's visage that everyone had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and torture.

Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."

Public Image

Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly leave his domain? It's a nice way to function, actually."

Business Interests

Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as vice-president. While he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling billions.

It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty