Former Vice-President Dick Cheney: An Examination on His Influential Government Service

The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in American history. While many second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".

Bush objected to this portrayal and said the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.

The Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.

Cheney stated the strikes changed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Controversial Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance presently."

However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and corruption."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a document setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.

Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and torture.

Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."

Public Persona

Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen leave his lair? It's a nice way to function, actually."

Corporate Connections

Controversy over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation rose from his previous salary while military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty