Ex- VP Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Influential Government Service

The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas countless second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "actual president".

Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.

A Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the government building.

Cheney stated the strikes changed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Disputed Policies

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the correct action to do then. I believed it back then and I believe it today."

Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, unfitness, and graft."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had assumed the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to step on.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were whether thin or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and torture.

Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly come out of his hole? It's a advantageous way to work, truthfully."

Commercial Ties

Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth substantial sums.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm rose from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty