One-time VP Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Impactful Government Service

The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While numerous vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "actual president".

Bush resented such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.

The Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the government building.

Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, making him become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Disputed Actions

He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I believed it then and I believe it presently."

However even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, deception, unfitness, and corruption."

Broader Context

Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memorandum setting out scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (including "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's face that everyone had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were whether weak or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.

Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."

External Perception

Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his domain? It's a advantageous way to function, truthfully."

Business Interests

Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as VP. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals valued at billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the firm increased from his previous salary during his time as military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty