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

The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful occupants of that position in US history. Whereas many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "actual president".

Bush objected to that description and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.

The Post-9/11 Era

Leading of a group of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the Capitol building.

Cheney said the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Disputed Policies

He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the right thing to do back then. I had faith back then and I hold that view today."

But even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memo outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush additionally had assumed the White House vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.

Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's face that each person had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."

Public Image

Cheney reveled in labels given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, 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 emerge from his domain? That is a advantageous way to work, actually."

Commercial Ties

Controversy over his business interests followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at multiple billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty