Ex- Vice-President Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Impactful Government Service

The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most significant incumbents of that position in American history. While many second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "true president".

Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.

The Aftermath of 9/11

At the head of a group of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes nearing the US Capitol.

Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Debated Policies

He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced then and I hold that view today."

Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management 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, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document outlining situations in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to act independently when collective action prove impossible," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.

Bush additionally had assumed the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's countenance that all visitors had to step on.

Questioning Techniques

Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were both weak or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.

Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen leave his domain? It's a effective way to operate, actually."

Commercial Ties

Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as VP. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling multiple billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the company rose from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty