Former Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Look Back on His Powerful Government Service

The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant incumbents of that position in American history. Although many vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "real president".

Bush resented that description and said the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.

The Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the government building.

Cheney said the strikes changed him, making him become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Disputed Actions

He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced then and I hold that view now."

However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a document setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.

Bush additionally had entered the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.

Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that each person had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were whether thin or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."

Public Image

Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly leave his lair? It's a effective way to work, in fact."

Corporate Connections

Debate over his business interests followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling billions.

It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty