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

The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Although numerous second-in-commands had to settle for minor or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".

Bush disliked this portrayal and said the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.

A Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for 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 participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the Capitol building.

Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, making him become intent on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Decisions

He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance now."

However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a document setting out situations in which national priorities might be compromised (including "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.

Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to step on.

Interrogation Methods

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.

Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."

External Perception

Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? That is a advantageous way to function, in fact."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as vice-president. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at substantial sums.

It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the company grew from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty