One-time Vice-President Dick Cheney: An Examination on His Influential Government Service

The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Although many VPs were confined to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded huge power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".

Bush resented that description and said the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.

A Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the government building.

Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Controversial Policies

He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I believed it back then and I believe it now."

But during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memo detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.

Bush too had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to tread upon.

Investigation Approaches

However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were whether weak or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and torture.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."

External Perception

Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his lair? It's a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."

Business Interests

Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.

It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars while military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty