Ex- Vice-President Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Influential Government Service

The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most significant occupants of that position in US history. While numerous vice-presidents had to settle for minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "actual president".

Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.

The Aftermath of 9/11

At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unidentified aircraft nearing the government building.

Cheney stated the assaults changed him, making him become determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Debated Decisions

He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I was convinced then and I hold that view presently."

But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Broader Context

Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memo detailing scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.

Bush also had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's face that everyone had to tread upon.

Questioning Techniques

However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were either insubstantial or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."

Public Persona

Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating 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: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his lair? That is a advantageous way to function, truthfully."

Commercial Ties

Dispute over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty