One-time VP Dick Cheney: An Examination on His Influential Government Service

The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "true president".

Bush disliked that description and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.

The Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the government building.

Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Decisions

He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance presently."

But during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, unfitness, and corruption."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a document outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.

Bush too had entered the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering 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 military action against Iraq.

Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.

Investigation Approaches

Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."

Public Image

Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? It's a advantageous way to work, actually."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had limited background in business but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts worth substantial sums.

It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty