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

The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered arguably the most influential incumbents of that position in US history. Although many second-in-commands were confined to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "true president".

Bush objected to that description and stated the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.

A Post-9/11 Era

In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any non-communicating planes nearing the Capitol building.

Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Actions

He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance now."

But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a document outlining circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (including "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush additionally had entered the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting 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 carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's face that all visitors had to walk over.

Questioning Techniques

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were whether weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and torture.

Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."

External Perception

Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his lair? It's a advantageous way to work, actually."

Commercial Ties

Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as VP. While 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 conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars while military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty