One-time Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Powerful Government Service

The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most significant occupants of that position in American history. Although countless second-in-commands had to settle for minor or symbolic positions, Cheney held huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "true president".

Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.

The Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the US Capitol.

Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, making him become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Controversial Policies

He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the correct action to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance presently."

But 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 region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."

Broader Context

Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a document setting out circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (including "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.

Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's visage that everyone had to tread upon.

Investigation Approaches

However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were both thin or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and torture.

Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."

External Perception

Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? That is a advantageous way to work, truthfully."

Commercial Ties

Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts worth multiple billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty