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

The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most significant incumbents of that office in US history. Whereas many VPs had to settle for minor or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "real president".

Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.

A Post-9/11 Era

In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive planes approaching the government building.

Cheney said the strikes transformed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Debated Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it then and I maintain that stance today."

Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memorandum setting out situations in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to act independently when collective action prove impossible," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush also had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.

Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's face that everyone had to walk over.

Questioning Techniques

Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were both weak or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."

Public Image

Cheney took pleasure in monikers given 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 Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? That is a effective way to function, actually."

Corporate Connections

Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as second-in-command. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.

In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals valued at multiple billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the corporation grew from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty