One-time Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Powerful Government Service

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas numerous VPs were confined to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "true president".

Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.

The Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the US Capitol.

Cheney said the attacks changed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Decisions

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I had faith back then and I believe it now."

However during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush also had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's face that everyone had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were both thin or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."

External Perception

Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his domain? That is a advantageous way to function, actually."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals valued at billions.

It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty