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

The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Although countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney held substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "true president".

Bush disliked that description and stated the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.

A Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the government building.

Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Controversial Actions

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the correct action to do back then. I had faith then and I hold that view today."

However even at the time, 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 post. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (including "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.

Bush additionally had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.

Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's countenance that everyone had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were whether insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and torture.

Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."

External Perception

Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly leave his hole? It's a nice way to function, in fact."

Business Interests

Debate over his business interests followed him through his period as VP. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling billions.

It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation grew from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty