Former Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Look Back on His Influential Government Service

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most influential incumbents of that office in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents had to settle for minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "actual president".

Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.

A Post-9/11 Era

Leading of a group of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the Capitol building.

Cheney stated the strikes changed him, making him become determined on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Debated Policies

He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the correct action to do back then. I believed it at the time and I believe it now."

But even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."

Broader Context

Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had entered the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.

Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's face that each person had to tread upon.

Questioning Techniques

Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were whether thin or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.

Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."

External Perception

Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force 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 malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly leave his lair? This represents a nice way to function, truthfully."

Business Interests

Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at multiple billions.

It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty