Former VP Dick Cheney: An Examination on His Impactful Government Service

The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Although numerous vice-presidents were limited to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".

Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.

A Post-9/11 Era

In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft nearing the government building.

Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, making him become determined on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Disputed Actions

He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the proper decision to do then. I believed it at the time and I believe it presently."

However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memo detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (including "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.

Bush also had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, 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 reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's countenance that all visitors had to step on.

Questioning Techniques

But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were whether thin or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.

Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."

Public Image

Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees leave his hole? It's a effective way to operate, truthfully."

Business Interests

Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as VP. Even though he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling multiple billions.

It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty