Former VP Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Influential Government Service

The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in American history. While numerous second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".

Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.

The Aftermath of 9/11

At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified planes heading toward the Capitol building.

Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, making him become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Disputed Policies

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I had faith then and I hold that view now."

But even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and corruption."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a document setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.

Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.

Questioning Techniques

However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were either insubstantial or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.

Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."

Public Image

Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea 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 reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his hole? This represents a advantageous way to operate, in fact."

Business Interests

Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as VP. While he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty