Ex- Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Look Back on His Influential Government Service

The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "actual president".

Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.

The Period Following the Attacks

Leading of a group of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unidentified planes heading toward the government building.

Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Debated Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the correct action to do back then. I had faith then and I believe it now."

But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memo outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the White House generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's face that all visitors had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were either weak or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.

Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."

Public Persona

Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen come out of his domain? That is a nice way to work, in fact."

Corporate Connections

Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm rose from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty