Ex- Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Impactful Government Service

The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential occupants of that position in US history. While many second-in-commands were limited to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney held substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "actual president".

Bush resented that description and said the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.

A Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive planes nearing the Capitol building.

Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Policies

He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the right thing to do then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view presently."

Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document detailing scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush also had entered the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to tread upon.

Questioning Techniques

However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were whether weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and torture.

Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."

Public Persona

Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his domain? This represents a effective way to operate, in fact."

Business Interests

Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.

In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm grew from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty