Former Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Impactful Government Service

The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most significant holders of that position in the nation's history. While numerous vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".

Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.

A Period Following the Attacks

At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive planes approaching the US Capitol.

Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Controversial Policies

He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I believed it at the time and I believe it today."

But even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."

Broader Context

Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a document outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.

Bush additionally had entered the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.

Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his father, 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 image of his father's face that everyone had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were whether weak or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."

Public Image

Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen leave his hole? It's a nice way to work, actually."

Commercial Ties

Dispute over his business interests followed him during his tenure as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts worth billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm rose from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty