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

The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered one of the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. While numerous second-in-commands were confined to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney held substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "true president".

Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.

A Post-9/11 Era

Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the Capitol building.

Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Disputed Policies

He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view now."

Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and corruption."

Broader Context

Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memorandum setting out situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush additionally had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.

Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's countenance that each person had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were both insubstantial or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures 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 merit a lot of credit."

Public Persona

Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? This represents a effective way to function, actually."

Commercial Ties

Dispute over his business interests accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. While he had little experience in business but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.

It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company increased from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty