Former Vice-President Dick Cheney: An Examination on His Impactful Government Service

The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas countless vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney held substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "actual president".

Bush objected to that description and said the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.

The Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the government building.

Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Disputed Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced then and I believe it now."

Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, incompetence, and graft."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memo setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush additionally had assumed the White House generally inclined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that each person had to tread upon.

Investigation Approaches

However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were either thin or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."

Public Image

Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his hole? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."

Commercial Ties

Debate over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty