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

The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most influential holders of that position in American history. Although numerous vice-presidents were confined to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney held huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "true president".

Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.

A Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft nearing the Capitol building.

Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Debated Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the correct action to do then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance today."

But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a document detailing scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.

Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's face that everyone had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and torture.

Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."

External Perception

Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees leave his domain? That is a effective way to work, actually."

Corporate Connections

Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling substantial sums.

It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty