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

The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful occupants of that office in the nation's history. While countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "true president".

Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.

A Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unresponsive planes approaching the Capitol building.

Cheney stated the strikes changed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Controversial Decisions

He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view presently."

Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.

Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's face that all visitors had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were whether weak or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."

External Perception

Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees leave his lair? This represents a advantageous way to function, in fact."

Business Interests

Debate over his business interests followed him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in business but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth multiple billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the company increased from his previous salary while military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty