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

The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most influential incumbents of that office in American history. Whereas many second-in-commands were confined to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney held huge sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "actual president".

Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.

The Aftermath of 9/11

In charge of a group of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the Capitol building.

Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Controversial Actions

He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I was convinced then and I believe it presently."

But even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, deception, incompetence, and corruption."

Broader Context

Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document setting out situations in which American interests might be compromised (including "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush additionally had assumed the White House generally inclined on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.

Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, 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 image of his predecessor's visage that each person had to step on.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were whether weak or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and torture.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."

Public Persona

Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his lair? It's a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."

Commercial Ties

Controversy over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had limited background in business but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling multiple billions.

It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty