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

The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most powerful holders of that office in the nation's history. While countless VPs were limited to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney held substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "real president".

Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.

A Aftermath of 9/11

In charge of a group of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive planes heading toward the US Capitol.

Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Disputed Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance presently."

Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a document outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.

Bush too had entered the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's face that each person had to step on.

Interrogation Methods

But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were either thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.

Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."

Public Image

Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? It's a effective way to work, actually."

Corporate Connections

Controversy over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at multiple billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation increased from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty